Coastal Journal

Work of 'Eagle Paparazzi' on display at botanical garden

cubecandy — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:00:00 -0500

At Norfolk Botanical Garden, they call them the Eagle Paparazzi, because many of them can be found on weekends snapping photos of the garden’s famous eagle pair.
The photographers don’t necessarily like being dubbed “paparazzi,” said Amy Dagnall, public relations manager at the garden, but it’s a most affectionate nickname.

Take part in Great Backyard Bird Count

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up next weekend, and Virginia Beach participants could really add some uncommon sightings to this annual survey of birds that is taken across the United States.
The Bird Count, sponsored by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, will take place Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Gull will need new winter home after dealership closes

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

WHEN SATURN of Virginia Beach closes and moves out of its Laskin Road showroom this spring, it will be leaving behind more than memories of a longtime Beach car dealership.
Bert, the ring-billed gull, will no longer have a winter home, said Gary Williamson, a sales consultant at Saturn.

Volunteers aid golf course's effort to become Audubon sanctuary

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Going birding at Red Wing Lake Golf Course is a bird ride, not a bird walk, for Karen and Tom Beatty.

Rare sturgeon sighting is exciting for ecologist

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:10:30 -0500

When a dead sturgeon washed up on the shore of the Lynnhaven River recently, brothers Kiel and Wesley Gatling knew there was something different about the unusual fish.

Nor'easter brings back memories of Ash Wednesday storm

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Connie Jones was waiting for the school bus on Atlantic Avenue one March Day in 1962 when she looked down 72nd Street and saw a wave crest above the two-story Oceanfront home at the end of her street. Jones first thought she was seeing things, but when she saw a wave rise above the house again, she ran inside to tell her father.

Peregrine falcons like to winter in Va. Beach

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:49:14 -0500

Now that the Oceanfront peregrine falcon is back for the winter and roosting on its favorite "rocky ledges" at the Virginia House, pigeons are scarce. "We never see a pigeon when she's around" said Virginia House manager Cassie Gronda.

Transmitter allows researchers to keep tabs on eagle

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:07:23 -0500

Azalea, one of three eagles born in the Norfolk Botanical Garden nest this spring, has been on an extended holiday, exploring the Chesapeake Bay region this summer and fall.

West Neck Natural Area is a beautiful, well-hidden gem

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:00:00 -0400

You may think you have to go way south in Virginia Beach to find a natural haven where you can get away from it all, such as to Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and False Cape State Park - or all the way north to First Landing State Park. But you don't.

The brown spider is a Halloween classic

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:00:00 -0400

The brown garden spiders around my house become such close neighbors that I get to know them pretty well this time of year. Unlike the colorful big black and yellow sewing machine spider that spins her web across the tips of garden flowers, little brown garden spiders take up residence near the house.