Kanchana Thamodaran photographed a bald eagle with a long fishbone in its talons perched in a shady pine tree in the Lynnhaven Bay area in Virginia Beach, obviously the remains of its dinner.
Bill Caruso sent a photo of a great egret and its shadow at sunrise on the Cove Pointe waterway off the Lafayette River in Norfolk.
Connie Owen has been seeing a lot of snowy egrets on the beach in Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore. “I love the yellow slippers!” Owen wrote. The yellow feet of the snowy egret help to distinguish them from other egrets. Egrets feed in the shallow waters spearing the fish with their pointed beak.
Waterfowl are making their way back into the area. Clay Winn spotted a black duck and blue-winged teal in the Lafayette River in Norfolk.
Gail Juren spotted a committee of turkey vultures perched on a tree branch as well as on the ground with wings spread outward sunning themselves in the West Belvedere neighborhood of Norfolk.
Cody Chaplain had 14 wild turkeys cross the road and into a field in front of him on North Muddy Creek Road in Virginia Beach. “I have been patiently watching the turkeys move east over the last few years,” Chaplain wrote. “I hope their numbers continue to increase.”
Cindy Morrison sent a photo of a beautiful buckeye butterfly in Ridgley Manor in Virginia Beach. Buckeye butterflies are medium-sized butterflies with several large, conspicuous eyespots.
Denise Becker had a rare sighting of a luna moth in Lake Shores in Virginia Beach. “This luna moth was hanging on for dear life during Hurricane Debby,” Becker wrote. Host plants for the luna moth include sweetgum, wild cherry and sumac.
Jean Broughton took a photo of a cicada exoskeleton that was spotted on the side of the house in Morgans Walke in Virginia Beach. Cicadas shed their exoskeleton when they emerge from underground.
Evan Rhodes photographed a beautiful black swallowtail butterfly caterpillar feeding on a fennel plant in Duck in North Carolina. Members of the carrot family are among the host plants for the black swallowtail caterpillars.
Tammy Woodell sent photos of Cope’s gray treefrog posing in Pocahontas Village in Virginia Beach. “Throughout the summer, the sounds from those frogs have reminded me of the bayou,” Woodell wrote. “We have many tadpoles in our pond now.”
Shonda Davis was surprised to see three tiny box turtles emerge from a nest that she and her husband had marked in the spring after seeing a box turtle lay her eggs in their front yard in the Great Bridge area of Chesapeake. “Our area seems to be a hotspot for box turtles as we see them all the time,” Davis wrote.
Tiffany Froman sent photos of a cottonmouth peacefully floating on the surface of the water at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach.
Justin Fuller photographed sea turtles and dolphins on a recent Pelagic Wildlife Exploration out to Norfolk Canyon for Rudee Tours in Virginia Beach.
Robert Parker sent a photo of a manatee taken by Dixie Benton in Lilly Creek in Churchland in Portsmouth. It is common to see manatees in the waters in the Hampton Roads region during the summer months.
Vickie Shufer, wildfood@cox.net
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If you go
What: Pelagic Wildlife Exploration
When: 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 22
Where: 200 Winston Salem Ave., Virginia Beach
Cost: $165 per person; adults
More information: Reservations are required. Call (757) 425-3400; email rudeeangler@gmail.com.
![A nearly century-old Oklahoma company that supplies stock for rodeos had as many as 70 horses die a week ago after receiving what an owner believes was tainted feed. Rhett Beutler, co-owner of Beutler and Son Rodeo Co. near Elk City, told KFOR-TV that the horses died shortly […]](https://www.pilotonline.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2023/04/14/3X2JI5FLARG3XCZMNVHACWQSAA.jpg?w=535 "A nearly century-old Oklahoma company that supplies stock for rodeos had as many as 70 horses die a week ago after receiving what an owner believes was tainted feed. Rhett Beutler, co-owner of Beutler and Son Rodeo Co. near Elk City, told KFOR-TV that the horses died shortly […]")
