Houston, we’ve got a problem. Actually, it’s Virginia, we’ve got a problem. We are losing our wildlife and habitat and the funds to help are drying up. For years, license fees for hunters and fishermen fully supported the Game Department, now called the Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR). Those fees paid for the salaries of Biologists and Game Wardens, in addition to fund the purchase and … [Read more...]

Yep, this coming week is Bat Week, ironically in advance of Halloween, vampires, ghosts, and goblins. But bats are perhaps the most misunderstood of all animals. They are feared and loathed by some, but they play a vital part in our environment. Writes Courtney Celley of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “We at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service want to set the record straight and help others … [Read more...]

A quarter-million pounds of trout or roughly 400,000 catchable-sized trout: That’s how much the Coursey Springs Hatchery produces on an average year. Located in Bath County, Virginia, Coursey Springs Fish Hatchery is a unique grow-out facility where brook, rainbow, brown, and tiger trout are raised to stockable size. The facility receives fingerlings from Wytheville, Marion, and Paint Bank … [Read more...]

By Katie Martin/DWR The “music” of fall for many wildlife species is the sound of acorns raining down from the trees. In most years, the steady “plop, plop” begins in early September and can continue, depending on the crop, through October. On calm days, they fall steadily as singles or pairs; but on a rainy, blustery day they can pour from the sky, leaving “marble yards” to navigate across in … [Read more...]

I have caught Golden Trout before, but I have never caught a Golden Catfish. The gentleman pictured above caught two Golden Catfish in Lake Orange within a few minutes of each other. These Golden Catfish are really just albino channel cats. The taste the same, bite the same things, fight just as hard, but they are a beautiful yellowish gold color. I don’t know how any more there may be in … [Read more...]

Usually, this time of year, my lawn mower takes a well-deserved sabbatical, resting quietly in our garden shed for a few weeks, waiting for the heat to go away and cool autumn air to bring the grass back to life. But not this year. I started mowing in March and I haven’t missed a week since. It’s the perfect storm. Lots of rain and then lots of sun to draw the grass out its hidey hole. To make … [Read more...]

While we were at Ferry Creek off the Piankatank River, I saw a pair of ospreys soaring over the water, periodically diving down to scoop up baitfish for their young. There was a lot of bait in the water where we were because it’s back in a creek. But in a good part of the Chesapeake Bay, bait is scarce. That’s because a Canadian firm, Omega Protein, is scooping up millions of pounds of menhaden, … [Read more...]

Robin Babies – Leave Them Alone Our neighbors came by yesterday. The mom and her boys had found a baby robin in their yard, seemingly alone and possibly injured. Since they considered me something of a bird expert (which I’m not), they wanted to know what to do. My simple advice. “Leave it alone.” Robin chicks come out of the nest almost helpless. It would be nice if the Mama Robin would … [Read more...]

Save the whales! And save the turtles, too. Spring has sprung, and so too have the turtles from their long winter’s nap. They can be seen piled up basking on logs and on the banks of your local ponds and waterways. Unfortunately, they can also be seen crossing roads as they seek out suitable nesting sites. Although their shells provide formidable protection against predators such as raccoons … [Read more...]