Royal Tern soars above Fort Monroe Beach in Hampton – The Virginian-Pilot

Benjamin Gerber photographed a royal tern at Fort Monroe Beach in Hampton.

Mike Weirich sent pictures of a mother osprey at her nest near the Coinjock Marina in Currituck County. “I assume ospreys keep the same nest every year, and this is the same osprey as last year with a new chick,” Weirich wrote.

Connie Owen sent photos of osprey chicks on the nest at Cape Charles on the east coast. “It’s so enlightening to watch the little ones mature and become such beautiful birds,” Owen wrote.

Joe DiGeronimo got a photo of an osprey emerging from the bay at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach with a speckled trout in its talons to take home to the nest.

Cindy Hamilton spotted shearwaters hang out at Tom’s Cove at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the east coast. Shearwaters have a tubenosis, a specialized gland developed for drinking ocean water. The “gland extrudes the salt and the diluted saline drips through the nostrils of the birds,” Hamilton wrote.

Michele Baird had a rare sighting of a dovetail kite in her yard in the Mears Corner neighborhood of Virginia Beach.

Cindy Morrison photographed Canada Geese goslings while hiking Mount Trashmore Park in Virginia Beach.

Steve Daniel sent a picture of a graceful with a periwinkle in its beak at Pleasure House Point Natural Area in Virginia Beach.

Steve Stasulis had a visitor black vultures at his home in Kings Grant in Virginia Beach.

Ruben Rohn photographed a bobwhite on a fence at the Magothy Natural Area Preserve on the east coast.

Connie Owen was excited to observe a red-haired woodpecker creating a house in a dead tree in Cape Charles on the east coast. “I thought they had a nest, but as I continued to watch, I saw the wood chips being thrown out of the hole,” Owen wrote.

Denise Rodey got a picture from a man pied warbler grabbing a green caterpillar while foraging for food at Pleasure House Point Natural Area in Virginia Beach.

Randy Travis sent a picture of a blue Bird looking at his bluebird box hanging among the waxmyrtle bushes in Virginia Beach’s Larkspur Greens.

Kevin and Pam Wong sent pictures of goldfinches at their recently installed feeder at Sandbridge in Virginia Beach.

Les Ferguson sent an interesting looking photo of a Carolina praying mantis and the mirror image on a window in Chuckatuck in Suffolk.

Leigh Schuster sent pictures of crickets moulting in her yard on Chuckatuck Creek in North Suffolk after her children pointed it out to them.

Dave Lockwood was visited in the morning by a… rabbit in his garden at Park Manor in Portsmouth.

Laura Joksaite sent photos of the neighborhood racoon mother with her cub in the Robinhood Forest in Virginia Beach. “It was such a hot day and it hurt her, but love is bigger, so she didn’t dare leave her cub alone for more than three minutes,” Joksaite wrote.

Gary Williamson photographed a raw green snake making its way around the trees on Indian Creek in Chesapeake.

Norm Grefe came across a beautiful one copperhead at the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Suffolk, along the aptly named Wildlife Drive.

Nancy Watters came up with a pair turtles in the mating act at the Broad Bay Country Club Golf Course in Virginia Beach. “You never know what you’re going to see!” Watters wrote. “They completely ignored me when I turned within 6 feet.”

Vickie Shufer, [email protected]

To submit items, email no more than two photos and/or wildlife sightings per week for possible publication in Close Encounters. Don’t forget your full name and neighborhood. Email photos as .jpg attachments to [email protected]† If you have injured wildlife, call Tidewater Wildlife Rescue, 255-8710. Wildlife Response can be reached at 543-7000.