Patuxent Visitor Center | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

National Wildlife Visitor Center

Lots to see and enjoy including...

Kids Discovery Center
Monarch Magic
Wildlife Images Bookstore
Hollingsworth Art Gallery
Family Fun
Visitor Center Bird Blind
Pollinator Gardens
Story Trail

The Visitor Center, located on South Tract, is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. – closed on federal holidays.

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Kids Discovery Center

Located in the Patuxent National Wildlife Visitor Center - 10901 Scarlet Tanager Loop, Laurel, MD 20708

Daily, Wednesday through Saturday: Sessions start at 10:00 am, 11:00 am, and 12:00 pm.

Duration: 35 minutes, each. Larger group special arrangements are possible when scheduled 2 weeks in advance. Lots of exciting learning activities and crafts await you at the KIDS DISCOVERY CENTER! New themes are presented monthly to engage kids (ages 3-10) * and adults in nature-related fun.

Registration Required. Call the National Wildlife Visitors Center front desk 301/497 5772 to reserve a 35-minute time slot for you and your child.

Children, with parent/guardian support, explore and learn about nature and the environment through engaging, age-appropriate activities, crafts and games. Older siblings are welcome to join with parents and work with younger siblings to help them understand and complete the activities.

NOTE: The Kids’ Discovery Center is neither baby-proofed nor appropriate for children younger than 3 due to small items featured in the exhibits and activities. Parents are required to work with their child at each of the parent-led activities.

If interested in volunteering to work with KDC and/or to help develop curriculum activities for children, please call the front desk 301/497 5772 and ask for Barrie!

Program Themes:

SEPTEMBER - SQUIRRELS & CHIPMUNKS
They squeak and scamper all around your yard, but also raid your trash cans and dig up your flower bulbs. Who are they? They're those cute but pesky rodents... squirrels and chipmunks! This month, the KDC will feature these animals, as we discover some fascinating behaviors of these creatures!

OCTOBER: It's a bird....it's a plane... it's... it's... it's a... BEAUTIFUL BAT!
Come and join us at Patuxent's KDC this month and discover the wonders of these amazing animals. Did you know that they are the only mammals that can actually fly... and they perform this feat in the darkness of night! Exciting discoveries await you as you learn about this month 's wondrous theme ... BATS!

Registration strongly urged: Call 301-497-5772.
Large groups email Jason: michael_cangelosi@fws.gov.

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Monarch Magic

The monarch butterflies departed our area in the fall and made their way to Mexico for the winter. We look forward to their return north, generation by generation, this spring and summer. Meanwhile, you can come to the National Wildlife Visitor Center to visit our Monarch Magic Station, learn more about these incredible and beautiful migratory insects, and enjoy a full-color educational video about them. (The video runs continuously during Visitor Center public hours.) Ask at the Visitor Center for our 2025 monarch-release data.

Monarch Magic Opportunity:
Explore volunteering with the Monarch Butterfly Team! Call 301-497-5772 to ask about & sign-up for the next “Monarch Butterfly Team Overview Presentation.” These presentations are for adults, and ages 15-17 with adult registration on file, to learn about what volunteer Monarch Magic docents and Butterfly-Care Providers do

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Wildlife Images Bookstore

The Wildlife Images Bookstoreis operated by the Friends of Patuxent. Proceeds from sales made at Wildlife Images are devoted to supporting the environmental education at the Patuxent Research Refuge and research missions at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. The Bookstore is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 3:30 PM; closed on federal holidays.

Wildlife Images has an extraordinary selection of:

Wildlife books
Wildlife art items, created by some of the world's best wildlife artists
Wildlife-theme tee-shirts, Children & Adult sizes, and caps
Songbird box kits
Posters
Educational, and one of a kind items
Many other exciting wildlife-related items suitable for everyone who loves the outdoors and cares about the wildlife of the world.

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Hollingsworth Art Gallery

Each month the Hollingsworth Art Gallery exhibits wildlife-themed art by local and by nationally-known artists.

September 2026
Artists of the Month - ImagineEarth Collective
Theme: Meet Your Neighbors

We share this region with thousands of other species. They navigate the same watersheds, shelter in the same forests, and travel the same flyways overhead — yet most of us have never been properly introduced. Meet Your Neighbors is an invitation to change that.

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The work in this exhibition is inspired by the flora and fauna of the DC-Maryland-Virginia area — the green heron hunting at the water's edge, the mussel tucked into the gravel bed of the Patuxent River, the pollinators threading through meadow grasses, the oak holding its ground in sandy soil. These are our neighbors. They live alongside us, depend on the same land and water we do, and have as much claim to this place as anyone.

With this show, we hope to do what the Patuxent Research Refuge itself has always done for the people of this region — spark a genuine curiosity about the living world just outside your door, deepen your sense of connection to it, and leave your spirit a little more nourished than when you walked in. Because the first step toward caring for the natural world is knowing it. And you can't know your neighbors until you've been introduced.

Visit the ImagineEarth Collective website to see samples of the artists work - https://imagineearthcollective.com/

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Family Fun

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The Family Fun section offers self-paced hands-on activities and crafts for all ages, typically volunteer-staffed two days per month (dates, below), and available all month long for independent exploration. Test your knowledge with the Quiz Board or the Match Game. Make-and-take a fun craft project. Learn about nature, the plants and animals at Patuxent Refuge, and what you can do to help wildlife and the environment. There is something for everyone!

This is a drop-in program: come when you wish and leave when you're ready. Look for the Family Fun section in the hallway to the right as you face the reception desk.

Themes

Fall (September thru November) Dirt -- Dig it!
Dirt does more than just hold us up and keep the trees from falling over. We take dirt for granted, but without it there would be no food, no animals and no people. Where does dirt come from? What is it for? Who lives in it? Come find out! Enjoy hands-on activities, crafts and games for all ages. This is a drop-in program: come when you wish and leave when you’re ready.

STAFFED (Volunteers) Dates: September 18 & 19;October 16 & 17;November 20 & 21
from 10AM to 1:00PM.

Come explore your questions with us on our volunteer-staffed dates, or come on your own to explore all month long!

Visitor Center Bird Blind

Wish there was a convenient way to view birds at South Tract without intruding into their lives?

Try our bird blind located near the Visitor Center trail door. The slanted viewing port design allows people of all heights to view without revealing their presence. .The blind overlooks an open field with ground modification to mimic a forest floor. A variety of bird feeders have been added to attract a variety of species. Being located on a paved trail allows individuals with limited mobility to use the blind.

Birds seen in the blind’s first month include downy woodpecker, goldfinch, house finch, red-bellied woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, northern mocking bird, chipping sparrow, doves, red-winged blackbird and humming bird.

Funds for construction were provided by the Friends of Patuxent.

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Pollinator Gardens

The Patuxent Research Refuge has large pollinator gardens of native plants at the South Tract Visitor Center and at the North Tract Visitor Contact Station. Other small pockets of pollinator plantings are near the Fishing Pier at the north end of Cash Lake and at the Wildlife Viewing Area near Merganser Pond at North Tract. Volunteers help design and maintain these gardens, which provide food and shelter to butterflies, native bees and other insects that pollinate native plants and thus support the local wildlife populations. The gardens are beautiful and bring joy to their many visitors, and are especially appreciated by children and photographers.

Since the seeds choose where they like to grow, the gardens are an ever-changing landscape. As one of the gardeners noted, part of the fun of native plant gardening is enjoying the evolving display that changes with both the seasons and the successional stages of plant species as the landscape matures.

The gardens give visitors a chance to see pollinators in action in their natural habitat. They create an awareness of the beauty of native plants in home landscaping, and demonstrate the vital role they play in attracting beneficial insects as well as birds and other wildlife. The gardens are essentially an outdoor classroom, promoting good environmental stewardship by showing visitors what they can do in their own gardens.

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Story Trail

Location: Our paved Loop Trail is just off the Visitor Center parking lot, near the outdoor bathrooms.

Walk our paved outdoor Loop Trail on your own; enjoy the current children’s storybook display.

The Story Trail for September/October/November features the dual language children’s book: “Bats / Los Murciélagos” by Kate Riggs.

More about the September/October/November Bilingual English/Spanish storybook:

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With its flying ability and use of echolocation, the bat is one of the world’s most fascinating mammals. The book examines the nocturnal animal’s wings and other parts of its anatomy, hunting and feeding habits, life cycle, and pup care. Its cave, jungle, and forest habitats are described, too. A folktale explains why bats only come out at night.