September 27, 2021
Williamsburg Botanical Garden has great potential for wildlife and nature photography. It has great opportunities for songbird, butterfly and flower photography. It is located within Freedom Park in Williamsburg, Virginia. There is no cost for admission, but there are donation boxes available if you want to make a small contribution. This botanical garden is open from 7:00 a.m. to dusk every day. The garden has a fence around the perimeter that keeps certain wildlife, such as deer, out of the garden.
Photography Opportunities
If you love songbird photography, macro photography (butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and flowers), and even wildlife photography, this place offers all these opportunities. On one of my recent trips to Williamsburg Botanical Garden, I even photographed a couple of bunny rabbits and a squirrel eating a white mushroom. The botanical garden is a 2 acre oasis with 18 different types of habitats including pollinator meadow, butterfly waystation and pine woodlands.
Hummingbirds
I discovered the Williamsburg Botanical Garden a little late in season for butterflies and hummingbirds. However, on my first photo outing there a couple of weeks ago, I did observe a lot of hummingbird activity. On my second trip this past weekend, I only saw two hummingbirds zipping around the garden, but it is hummingbird migration time. The hummingbirds were drinking the nectar from various plants around the garden and then would rest for a few seconds on a wire fence that enclosed the garden. I was able to capture a quite a few images of ruby- throated hummingbirds resting on the wire fence.
Since I just discovered this location of the Williamsburg Botanical Garden, I know that next spring and summer I will be spending a bit of time there photographing the birds, butterflies and flowers.
Butterflies and Bees
This botanical garden has a great pollinator meadow that attracts a variety of butterflies and bees. There are many perennial plants which include coneflowers, verbena and various types of milkweed. Lantana is one of the many annual flowers that is very popular with butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. Many annuals including lantana are found in the butterfly garden at the Williamsburg Botanical Garden.
Birds
One of the most fascinating subjects to photograph at the Williamsburg Botanical Garden is the many different species of songbirds. I observed and photographed a large variety of songbirds during my photo outings to this location. Near the pavilion there is a brick patio area with a bird feeder nearby. That bird feeder had a lot of bird action with birds such as white-breasted nuthatches, sparrows, cardinals, tufted titmouses, American goldfinches, northern flicker and downy woodpecker. Yes, I saw both the downy woodpecker and northern flicker at the bird feeder.
Songbirds
There were just so much songbird action at this botanical garden. If you are a songbird photographer this garden would be a photo haven for you. There was such a great variety of different songbird species that I saw flying around the garden grounds. I haven’t always photographed a lot of songbirds as I love to photograph waterbirds including seabirds. But, I found myself intrigued by the songbird action here and spent a great deal of time photographing various species of songbirds.
The bird feeder was not the only area in the garden that was happening with songbird activity. The goldfinches were flying all around the garden from one flower to another. I photographed a bluebird juvenile sitting on the wired fence that encloses the botanical garden. Sparrows and many other birds were just flying around from tree to tree, flower to flower or back and forth to the bird feeder.
Wildlife
Williamsburg Botanical Garden has many pathways that take you through the various sections that include a herb garden, butterfly garden and native garden. There is always something new to discover along the pathways through the garden. Such as one morning, I discovered an eastern cottontail rabbit eating some grass and weeds along one the paths through the botanical garden. Eastern gray squirrels were frequently seen around the garden grounds as well.
More About Williamsburg Botanical Garden
Williamsburg Botanical Garden offers a variety of photo opportunities for nature and wildlife photographers. The variety of flowers also offers a lot of potential for flower macro photography. One of the best things I particularly like about Williamsburg Botanical Garden is that it opens at 7:00 a.m. as I am an early morning photographer.
This botanical garden is also just a great space to be out in nature and watch all these pollinators, birds, and wildlife in action. There are benches scattered throughout the many areas of the garden. Also, there are a couple of pavilions with picnic tables. So, there are opportunities to sit, relax and be in nature. Majority of the plantings are native species to Virginia and are important in providing a source of food for many birds and pollinators. Williamsburg Botanical Garden has become a new favorite field photo location for me.
Click here for a map of the the Williamsburg Botanical Garden and the different sections that are located inside the garden. To sign up for the e-news for the Williamsburg Botanical Garden, click here.
Thank you for reading my Field Notes blog, and I hope you will share this post with others.
Let’s protect our wildlife and nature!
All the very best,
Lori
- Celebrate Earth Day 2024April 22 is Earth Day 2024. Thus day us a reminder to take time to make our commitment to help protect and take care of our planet.
- Article Published in Nature Vision MagazineMy article “Power of Seascapes” published in the Spring 2024 issue of Nature Vision Magazine, which is a publication of Nature Photographers Network.
- American Wigeon: Profile of the Gregarious DuckAmerican wigeon profile and in the field notes about a gregarious, migrating duck along the Atlantic coast of the United States.
- Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle Page Added to My WebsiteMonarch butterfly life cycle page with diagram, information and images of the monarch life cycle can be found at Lori A Cash Conservation Photography, LLC website under the Butterfly Habitat Oasis Project page.
- Virginia’s Habitat Connectivity Hub LaunchedIn January 2024 Virginia’s Habitat Connectivity Hub was launched by Wild Virginia along side the Virginia Safe Wildlife Corridors Collaborative.
American Bullfrog American Bullfrog Sitting on Pine Needles backyard butterfly garden behind the scenes bird photography birds birds of prey black swallowtail caterpillars bullfrogs butterflies butterfly conservation Butterfly conservation photography calendars caterpillars conservation flowers Fort Monroe National Monument Frogs insects in the field Lori A Cash milkweed monarch butterflies monarch butterfly monarch conservation NANPA nature nature photography Nature Photography Day Norfolk Botanical Garden osprey photo exhibit photography photography tips pollinators publication published red foxes red fox kit seascapes songbirds sunrise sunrises sunsets tips Virginia Virginia conservation Virginia Conservation Network Virginia wildlife Virginia wildlife conservation wildlife wildlife conservation Wildlife Corridors wildlife photography Zazzle
OUTSTANDING info and images! A hidden gem! Love your work!
Thank you so very much, Katy! I appreciate your support.
Stunning Lori….thank you so much for sharing!! Love your pictures!!