As the sun slowly sank into Belmont Bay, a full moon rose behind us, lighting our way down Kane’s Creek. We paddled our kayaks back to the launch site with only the splash of our paddles to disturb the quiet of the evening.

It’s always a joy when Osprey return to northern Virginia in the spring to breed after their winters in the Southern Hemisphere, but reports of increased nest failure are cause for concern.

During spring migration’s height, in April and May, from 6 a.m. to noon, volunteers catch and band birds in the Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge near Marumsco Creek three mornings a week, a project undertaken there every spring since 2001, except 2020, the “covid year.”

With forethought and some planning, you can have a clear and frequent view of these 3.5-ounce, dive-bombing, backward-flying, shimmering, drama-obsessed, and Ferrari-engine-powered birds. If that sounds like fun, here are some tips to attract them now and get them to linger for the season.

It’s difficult to be optimistic about the future of North American birds in the face of a relentless avalanche of news about national policy changes that can challenge conservation efforts.

Judy Gallagher is an NVBA board member and a regular surveyor of local wildlife who also captures photos of what she sees, in particular the less common species.

Pollinators are important to our daily lives. Without insects, around 80 percent of flowering plants would not be pollinated.

Join us for a class, workshop or event! Here are some of our upcoming offerings.

Our new feature, the Weekly Bird Word, introduces a new bird-related vocabulary word each week.

The Board Birders started their Birdathon at 6:00 AM at Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve. Read about their Birdathon adventure and find out how many species they saw!

Now that it is spring, NVBA’s conservation work has gone into high gear and it is this work that has taken on new meaning for me.

Thanks to NVBA advocates’ and many others’ efforts, Virginia has a new law that requires, by January 1, 2027, retailers to conspicuously post “in proximity to each invasive plant display” signs indicating that a plant is invasive and “encouraging consumers to ask about alternatives.” 

Some history and background on a favorite birdwatching locale for many northern Virginians as Huntley Meadows celebrates its 50th year.

As Margaret Atwood once said, “In the spring, at the end of the day, you SHOULD smell like dirt.” It’s very good for us on so many levels.