Friday, August 1, 2014

Eastern Shore of Virginia Wildlife Management Refuge

On my list of places to visit on vacation was Eastern Shore of Virginia Wildlife Management Refuge, that's located just before the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. We started in the refuge at the North end on a 2 1/2 mile bike trail that featured butterfly friendly plants on either side of the trail.  There are large stands of Dill along with lots of Sweet Pepperbush shrubs interspersed with other shrubs and small trees.  We walked along the trail for a while .  Then we drove to the Visitors Center and walked around there.  We saw lots of butterflies in good numbers though not one Monarch and we saw little to no milkweed plants. We also saw 2 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds feeding on some of the butterfly nectar plants.  The butterflies were Common Buckeye, Red Admiral, Eastern Black Swallowtail, Silver-spotted Skipper, Male/Female Tiger Swallowtails, Varigated Fritillaries, Sachems, Male/Female Zabulon Skippers, Red-banded Hairstreak, American Lady and Summer Azure. It was awesome and I hope we stop there on our way back home.

Red Admiral

Silver-spotted Skipper

Varigated Fritillary

Red-banded Hairstreak


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