Birds & Waterfowl

Birds have feathers, wings, lay eggs and are warm-blooded. They are the only feathered animals. We have a wide variety of bird species in Southeastern Virginia. Many live here year-round while others migrate here for mating, nesting or food. There are twice as many species of birds as there are mammals.

Starting with the spring birds, you might see the ground nesting ovenbird with its 'teach, teach' call, to the red-eyed-vireo with its call of 'look up, in the tree, see me.' The woods come alive with nesting birds in the summer, such as bluebirds, robins, great-crested-fly-catchers and peewees as well as many others. Moving into the fall and winter, at our feeders are chipping fox sparrows, song sparrows and dark-eyed juncos. Red-tailed, Cooper's, Merlin or other assorted hawks as well as an occasional bald eagle may be seen flying overhead. Down at the river great-blue-heron, osprey, mallards, wood ducks, pied-billed grebes or buffleheads such as the female bufflehead may be spied.