Fisherman Island Tours are Complete for the 2022 - 2023 Season

Reservations for winter 2023 - 2024 will open September 1, 2023.  

Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR Staff and Volunteers would like to thank all our guests for a successful tour season and we look forward to resuming our Fisherman Island Tours next Fall. 

Each fall, like colorful clockwork, visitors are treated to a spectacular drama as millions of songbirds and monarch butterflies and thousands of raptors converge on their voyage south.

Latest News

A woman aims her camera at birds through a photography blind at Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.
Recreation
Photo Blinds on Wildlife Refuges
These national wildlife refuges are among those with photography blinds or wildlife observation blinds.
An orange-and-black monarch butterfly sips nectar from an orange flower.
Wildlife Wonders
Five Super Stops on the Monarch Migration Trail
Every fall, monarch butterflies fly thousands of miles from as far north as Canada to overwinter in Mexico. There's great monarch viewing and tagging at several national wildlife refuges that they pass along the way. Here are some prime viewing spots.
A Laysan albatross lies dead on the sand, its stomach filled with plastic debris that it swallowed.
Get Involved
Oceans of Trash
Nearly every seabird on the planet now eats plastic. Fish are eating microplastics — tiny beads found in cosmetics, lotions and toothpaste. Toxic chemicals bind to microplastics, and fish swallow these, too. When we eat the fish, we also swallow the microplastics and the toxins.
A small pond surrounded by leafy green vegetation, a few standing dead trees and verdant forest
Wildlife Management
Trapping
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service carefully manages trapping activities on national wildlife refuges to ensure that safe, effective practices are used, to ensure the sustainability of wildlife populations, and to protect refuge infrastructure. Trapping may be used as a wildlife management tool...
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Visit Us

National wildlife refuges offer us all a chance to unplug from the stresses of daily life and reconnect with our natural surroundings. You can marvel a the spectacle of migration while enjoying our trails or experience the area by water via the Wise Point Boat Ramp. From hiking and biking to fishing and hunting, there's something for everyone at the tip of the Eastern Shore!

Location and Contact Information

      Visitor Center Open!

       

      The front of the visitor center with a metal statue of two geese in the foreground
      Image Details

      Our Visitor Center is now open from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Stop in to enjoy an indoor wildlife observation deck and over 12 interactive exhibits. 

      About Us

      Nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay, the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge serves as one of the country's most valuable stopovers for migratory birds and insects. Established in 1984, we are a haven for monarch butterflies, birds of prey and songbirds as they rest and refuel along their arduous journeys. With woodlands, shrublands, grasslands, saltmarsh, beach, and both fresh and brackish ponds it's no wonder that we host 34 mammal species and over 400 species of birds can be found in our area.

      Tours

      Guided tours of Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge are a way to experience an otherwise inaccessible part of our refuge complex. Be sure to pre-register so you can enjoy a fall or winter tour.

      What We Do

      Wildlife conservation is at the heart of the National Wildlife Refuge System. It drives everything on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands and waters managed within the Refuge System, from the purposes for which a national wildlife refuge national wildlife refuge
      A national wildlife refuge is typically a contiguous area of land and water managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  for the conservation and, where appropriate, restoration of fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.

      Learn more about national wildlife refuge       is established to the recreational activities offered to the resource management tools used. Using conservation best practices, the Refuge System manages Service lands and waters to help ensure the survival of native wildlife species.

      Our Species

      A monarch butterfly on a yellow flower

      Adult monarch butterflies are large and conspicuous, with bright orange wings surrounded by a black border and covered with black veins. The black border has a double row of white spots, present on the upper side of the wings. Adult monarchs are sexually dimorphic, with males having narrower...

      FWS Focus
      Species
      Kingdom
      Animalia
      Taxonomic Rank
      Species