City of Norfolk
Common Tern, © Alex Shipherd
Located in the southeastern corner of Virginia where the Elizabeth River meets the James River, which in turn flows into the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, the City of Norfolk has long been the anchor of maritime activity in the state. At the time of its incorporation in 1705, it was a major port for exporting goods to the British Isles and beyond. Though largely burned to the ground by the British during the Revolutionary War and then suffering another major fire in the 1820’s, the city slowly rebuilt itself. Today it is home to Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval installation in the world and home port to 75 ships and 132 aircraft and staffed by over 60,000 active-duty personnel. Commercial shipping includes Norfolk Southern Railway’s Lambert’s Point Docks, the nation’s largest coal shipping facility, and Norfolk International Terminals which handles containerized cargo and serves most of the world’s major shipping lines. Ironically, shipping activity is most likely responsible for one of the more remarkable bird sightings recorded from the city — a Great Tit that showed up at a resident’s feeder in December 2018 and is presumed to have made it to the U. S. courtesy of one of the many military or cargo ships frequenting the city from Europe.
Due to its largely built-out, urban nature and its relatively small size, prime birding habitat is lacking in much of the city. Large undeveloped parcels are hard to come by and much of the city’s acreage is occupied by the Naval Station and is thus off limits to the general public. Nevertheless, hotspots such as the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, the Hermitage Foundation Museum, and Weyanoke Sanctuary provide wooded patches that can be good for warblers, thrushes, vireos and other migrants, and the city’s stretches of bayfront beaches, though often crowded, provide the chance to add a large variety of gulls, terns, and shorebirds along with the occasional wind-blown rarity. Quick checking of smaller parcels turns up surprises from time to time – such as a Least Bittern in the Pagoda Garden in downtown.
Birders have contributed sighting records to eBird dating back over 50 years, including such exciting finds as Virginia’s first records of Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Dusky Flycather, and Black-throated Sparrow. There are many other noteworthy sightings within the city, including: Lazuli Bunting; Snowy Owl; Western Tanager; Painted Bunting; Black-headed, Franklin’s, Iceland, Little, and Glaucous Gulls; Dovekie; Sooty Tern; Black-bellied Whistling Duck; Western Kingbird; Common and King Eider; Wood Stork; Cave Swallow; Upland Sandpiper; and Sandhill Crane. With the addition of Roseate Spoonbill in July 2021, the cumulative eBird list for the city hit a milestone of 300 species.
—David Clark
Hotspots
STAKEOUT HOTSPOTS
The following hotspots should only be used to input historical records pertaining to a specific staked out rarity, as indicated in the hotspots names.