Woody Stephens photographed an osprey nest with the parents feeding the chicks on Thurston Branch in Virginia Beach. “There are two nestlings that are getting bigger every day,” wrote Stephens.
Connie Owen sent photos of snowy egrets hunting for food at Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore. Snowy egrets don’t always just stand in one place and wait for food to come by. They are sometimes seen running back and forth with their wings spread chasing their prey as though doing a dance.
Robert Parker photographed a great egret crossing the road in the Churchland neighborhood in Portsmouth.
Steve Daniel photographed a juvenile yellow-crowned night heron as it was taking flight from the marsh at Pleasure House Point in Virginia Beach.
Neil Rose sent a photo of a yellow-crowned night heron perched on the rocks as the sun was setting at Nauticus in Norfolk.
Mike Weirich got a photo of a black-crowned night heron on the Upper North Landing River in Virginia Beach. Even though black-crowned night herons are year-round residents, they are rarely seen as they often perch on tree limbs concealed among the branches.
Michael Schimmel sent a family of Canada geese swimming at Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach.
Kristin West sent photos of a female boat-tailed grackle searching for food in the marsh in Sandbridge in Virginia Beach.
Rich Thiesfeld got a quick glimpse of a handsome barred owl at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina.
Nylia Laney sent photos of baby hummingbirds that had just taken a dip in the fountain in the Castleton neighborhood of Virginia Beach.
Leslie Garrett spotted a spicebush swallowtail in her Stokes Aster. “Both the Swallowtail and the flowers are so beautiful and I love the pollination,” Garrett wrote.
Joseph Robbins sent a beautiful photo of a bumblebee foraging for nectar and/or pollen on a dahlia plant in the Rose Hall District in Virginia Beach.
Terry Zawacki photographed a cicada in the Glenwood neighborhood of Virginia Beach. The cicada had just molted and had a fresh, shiny green exoskeleton with its shed exoskeleton just beneath it.
Debbie McNulty sent a photo of a broad-headed skink that she saved from her dog for a total of about six so far. “He is still hunting in the background,” wrote McNulty.
While kayaking in a river swamp near Elizabeth City in North Carolina, Gary Williamson came upon a fawn. The fawn “was completely surrounded by water but found a dry spot nestled between three tupelo trees,” wrote Williamson.
Jim Meehan got an interesting photo of a pair of painted turtles at Mirror Lake in the Norfolk Botanical Garden. The position of one turtle above the other with its leg behind the head of the second turtle gives the illusion of a deformed turtle with its eye and mouth upside down.
Richard Olivieri got a photo of a yellow-bellied slider turtle depositing eggs in his backyard in the Linkhorn area of Virginia Beach.
Cindy Morrison photographed a green anole lizard on the arm of her lawn furniture in her backyard in the Ridgely Manor neighborhood in Virginia Beach. “Green anoles are plentiful in my backyard,” wrote Morrison.
Laura Jordan sent a photo of her cat having a showdown with a black racer snake through a glass door in Broad Bay Point Greens in Virginia Beach. Both animals were saved by the glass door.
Johnny Richards was sight fishing for cobia in the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Beach when he spotted a loggerhead sea turtle with a horseshoe crab in its mouth.
Vickie Shufer, [email protected]
