Michael Schimmel sent a photo of an osprey carrying a largemouth bass in his talons at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach.
Mike Weirich sent photos of a flock of pelicans at Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach. “Birds were gorging over whatever fish were on the rocks,” Weirich wrote.
William Hughes photographed a bald eagle sitting on the ground at Kempsville Greens Golf Course in Virginia Beach.
June McDaniels spotted a Wilson’s plover standing alone on the beach at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach. “This bird nests on the islands off the Eastern Shore,” McDaniels wrote, “but is a rare visitor to Virginia Beach.”
Frank Elber sent photos of Canada geese enjoying the pond in the Warwick Forest Retirement Community in Newport News. “The geese enjoy taking a shower under the fountain, then preen and after that take a nap,” Elber wrote.
Stephen Horan sent a photo of a great egret that was preening itself on a branch near Topping Creek when a red-winged blackbird started diving at it. “Eventually, the egret had had enough and flew off to a different tree,” Horan wrote.
Douglas Richards sent a photo of a very wise-looking crow at Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach.
Marilyn Siegel heard a tap on the window at her home in Alanton in Virginia Beach and turned around to see a gorgeous pileated woodpecker staring at her. “He obviously wanted to come in for a chat,” Siegel wrote.
Connie Owen has been enjoying watching red-bellied woodpeckers coming and going from a tree in her backyard in the Robinhood Forest area of Virginia Beach. “I would love to see baby faces, but I don’t want to spend too much time below the nest so as to not stress the parents,” Owen wrote. “The birds are grabbing seed from my birdfeeder.”
Joe DiGeronimo sent a photo of a towhee, one of his favorite returns in the bay dunes just west of First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach.
Reuben Rohn sent a photo of a rare Bullock’s x Baltimore oriole hybrid in his backyard in Kempsville in Virginia Beach. “The black ‘beard’/throat, the wing bars and the yellow ‘eyebrow’ are like a Bullock’s, but the dark face is like a Baltimore,” Rohn wrote.
Mike Weirich sent photos of bluebirds that were in and out of the nesting box all day feeding the young in his backyard in Great Neck Estates in Virginia Beach.
Gary Williamson got a shot of an adult canebrake rattlesnake camouflaged among the leaves in southern Chesapeake that was at least 4 feet long. “It had 14 segments on its rattle,” Williamson wrote. “The segments were the same width so that indicates an old snake. This snake could easily have been 10-15 years old.”
Michael Schimmel was alerted to the presence of a black rat snake crossing the trail at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach.
Mary Blunt sent a photo of an albino squirrel that was spotted at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach.
Dave Zerbian spotted a mink in his backyard in Riverton in Virginia Beach.
Cindy Hamilton photographed a family of nutria snuggled up among the grasses at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach. Nutria are semi-aquatic rodents from South America that were imported into the United States in the early 1900s to control noxious plant species and in turn became an invasive animal species. Nutria can now be found in many swampy locations throughout Hampton Roads.
Vickie Shufer, wildfood@cox.net
