Status & Distribution - Overview

Each of the ~400 species of birds that have been recorded in Virginia Beach has its own unique distribution. Whether that distribution pertains to its desired habitat or range (georgraphical/spatial), or the times of the year in which the species is likely to be found (seasonality), in order to find & observe birds in the wild, one must study their distributional patterns. Fortunately for folks who live in Virginia, two amazing tools exist solely to help birders learn these patterns. Those resources are, 1). Virginia's Birdlife: An Annotated Checklist, 4th Edition, and 2). eBird (www.eBird.org). The first document is a comprehensive guide to the distributions of birds within the three major regions of the state of Virginia, the Mountains & Valleys, the Piedmont, and the Coastal Plain. The Coastal Plain section of the species accounts provide a great deal of useful information for birders in Virginia Beach specifically, noting a great many records that have occurred here over time. The second, eBird, is a massive online database of birder-supplied checklists of species observed on any given outing into nature. The combination of these two resources are a major influence for this website, and I have borrowed heavily from each in order to provide specific listings to Virginia Beach and the surrounding region.

On February 28, 2025, I put together a third document that I truly hope birders in Virginia Beach will find useful. At left, you will find the cover page for Birding Virginia Beach: Species Notes (2015-24) is displayed. By clicking that image, you will be able to download the 78-page document which goes into great detail describing the status & distribution of each of the 361 species for which there were known, documented records of within Virginia Beach across the decade-long time span. It is my hope that this document will assist the reader in learning the “when”, “where” and “how many” side of birding within Virginia Beach, based upon actual observations of birds through a 10-year time frame, so that observers can better understand how they might be able to observe different species moving forward in time. This document is the culmination of 10 years of my personal, volunteer time reviewing eBird records for Virginia Beach, and scouring that database as well as following up on any other reports that made their way to me via any other medium. For anyone with a passion for learning more about our local birds, I hope this will become a valued addition to your library!