Recap of our OLLI class field trip on May 4, 2022

Much to everyone's pleasure, the rain did hold off and make a field trip possible.  We headed out from New Road onto Park Road (see map below), and birded our way to Canary Creek and the DNREC launching area on the Broadkill River.  Our bird list more or less in order of observation was:  

Northern Cardinal, Red-eyed Vireo, Black Vulture, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, White-eyed Vireo, Catbird, Common Yellow Throat, Double-crested Cormorant, Osprey, Seaside Sparrow, Laughing Gull, Great Egret (photo below), Willet, and Clapper Rail.  Please let me know what I have forgotten.

The 15 moths I had saved to photograph in our classroom if our field trip got rained out, have now been photographed in a chilled state.  Some of the little moths don't stay chilled out very long, and can present a humorous challenge as they make a hasty departure while my camera is in hand.  I will be putting their photos up on my iNaturalist page...bill6711....so you can see what my 2 moth traps caught on the night May 2-3.

Click on images below for a full size view.  Note the greenish color beginning around the base of the bill, and the plumes emerging toward its tail, are breeding plumage features of the Great Egret. 

 

 

Last OLLI iNaturalist Class on Wed, May 4, 2022 at 9 am

Last Minute Update: Tomorrow, we may go to Prime Hook NWR to see these beautiful Pink Lady-Slipper Orchids photographed by Sally just hours ago.  We will still meet at OLLI to organize our plan.  Click on pic to enlarge. 

 

Hello Class,

Just a reminder that from 8 to 9 am tomorrow, there is a Continental Breakfast in the Trinity Education Building, so immediately before our class.  Events like this are a very good opportunity to meet other OLLI members and discuss like interests. 

For our class tomorrow, we will make every reasonable effort to have a field trip as outlined in the previous post, but of course we will not venture out in heavy rain or thunderstorms.  I am game to head out in a drizzle, and will have light rain gear.

As I also mentioned in the previous post, in case rain forces us to stay in the classroom, I will come prepared with some "chilled" live moths we can photograph and upload the pics to iNaturalist.  So last night I set my moths traps out, and now have 14 chilled moths of various species. 

But here's hoping for a break in the weather and an outdoor field trip.

Bill

Our Field Trip Destination for the Class on May 4, 2022

We will meet at the OLLI campus on New Road, and then go as a group to the U of DE campus on Canary Creek.  Wildlife we should see include Osprey, Clapper Rails, Fiddler Crabs, Forster's Terns and lots of saltwater marsh plants.  If the weather is not conducive to a field trip, my plan is to catch some moths the day or two before the field trip, and bring the moths to class and photograph them "in a cooled/torpid state".  So whatever the weather, you should have a good hands-on wildlife experience for our last class.

Blackwater NWR on 4/24/2022, Picture series #2

From the same boardwalk where we saw the King Rail, we also had great views of a female Barn Swallow bringing mud back to make a nest under the elevated wood boardwalk.

After that was a walk on the Woods trail with towering Loblolly Pines, a Pink Lady slipper with no flower stalk showing yet, and some species of Clubmoss.

Blackwater NWR on April 24, 2022

This tour was with our daughter Emily and her 2 children.  They did all of the Blackwater loop trail by bike, and Sally and I did it by car.  Sally was the driver, and I was the photographer. Below are some highlight pictures, and here is a FWS link to Blackwater NWR.

 

King Rail

Solar Power for Visitor Center

Ribbon Snake above

Great Blue Heron and Great Egret below

OLLI class participants at Cape Henlopen Yesterday

 

Joan, Maureen, Bill, Pam, and Diana....

with a lot of happy songbirds singing in the background.

 

Photo by Sally Fintel

Class Field Trip to Cape Henlopen State Park 4/20/22

 

We had a beautiful sunny morning, with very good views of several bird species, including:  White-throated Sparrow, House Finch, American Goldfinch, American Robin, Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, Red-winged Blackbird, Purple Martin and Turkey Vulture.  All except for the Turkey Vulture were singing their spring songs.

We all got some more experience uploading pics from a cell phone to iNaturalist, although with poor internet connection, that was a major challenge which I did not complete until I got home.  The pics I took, including 3 plant species have now all been uploaded to bill6711 on iNaturalist.  In our next class we will review possible ways to make the cell phone process easier.  Until then, just soar like a "Buzzard" 😀.