Coastal Journal

A good place to see eagles, and eagle watchers

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Adult eagles are settling down now to begin raising a family, but the youngsters are giving them a fit.
As teenagers are wont to do, they are zooming overhead, competing with adults and with one another for food and perching spots.
A perfect place to watch the eagle wars is an area near Honey Bee Golf Course off Salem Road.

Whales 'spy hopping' off Virginia Beach coast

David.Schleck — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:15:03 -0500

VIRGINIA BEACH
John Kersh was out on the bay fishing for striped bass last week but he did not catch a fish.
And Kersh didn’t care, because that day whales, not striped bass, were stars of the show.

Holiday bird count yields unusual sightings

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

IT COULDN'T have been a better Christmas Bird Count for Renee Hudgins and John Young, who live in Thoroughgood.
The couple did not have to leave their own backyard to add three top-notch feathered friends to their count of birds in the Thoroughgood-Kings Grant area on New Year's Eve.

It's been a great year for sighting all sorts of critters

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

ALTHOUGH IN the view of Coastal Journal readers (and its writer), all our nature news is big news, perhaps the wild world's biggest news in 2011 has been the saga of the eagles.

Battlin’ hummingbirds make rare winter visit

david.putney — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Two holiday miracles went at it in Renee Hudgins’ Thoroughgood yard – an aerial battle over bright red pineapple sage blooms. “Mine, all mine,” the little rufous hummingbird seemed to be saying as he darted in to chase another hummer of not-quite-known origin out of the stand of sage.

Coastal Journal: Young barn owls rehabbed, released

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Six baby barn owls and their heart-shaped faces totally won the hearts of wildlife lovers that followed their growing up on Facebook and attended their release recently.
Wildlife rehabilitator Pearl Beamer and her husband Jimmy in Norfolk raised the youngsters after their nest tree was chopped down outside of Moyock, N.C.

Here's your chance to view the hidden Mackay refuge

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

YOU NEVER KNOW what you might see at Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge on Open Roads Day.
The refuge, on Knotts Island just below the Virginia line, is situated between Back Bay and Currituck Sound. Full of windswept marshes and some treed areas, the refuge is on the Atlantic Flyway. Waterfowl flying in from the north, as well as strays from other areas, find food and safety there.

This little bird is a 'lifer' for most of us

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

A LITTLE MALE snow bunting flew into town to spend part of the day last weekend in front of the Newcastle Hotel at the Oceanfront.
This sparrow-like bird, an occasional winter visitor here, walked around munching hungrily on grass seeds in the hotel lawn by the Boardwalk.

Turkeys have a storied history

David.Schleck — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:46:38 -0500

You can hear Tom Tom, a rehab wild turkey, drumming away as soon as he catches site of you in the barnyard at Becky Cattani’s place in Pungo.
Tom Tom’s multi-hued feathers – shiny brown, green, black and gray – are all aquiver and fanned out. His wings tap the ground in a little dance all their own. His face gets bluer and redder as he struts his stuff.

Crows are more human than you may think

David.Schleck — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:26:46 -0400

Crows are right up there with black cats and vultures as traditionally scary critters of fall.

But the bad rap on crows came from the Europeans, not us, says Kevin J. McGowan, a crow researcher from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y.