Red Knots, Mispillion, and weather forecast for tomorrow's class

Red Knots are in!!! And weather forecast looks good in the morning. So we will meet at Prime Hook HQ at 8 am, or at the Fire House at Slaughter Beach about 8:15 am.

I finally got to see my first Red Knots for 2014 last Friday, and they were gorgeous, in full breeding plumage. Looking forward to tomorrow's field trip. Best, Bill

Wind Power and Birds

For a bit of my perspective on the above, see my Fin Bliz Climate Blog.

OLLI Field Trip 5/20/14 to Prime Hook WMA and Road to PH Beach

Great weather, great bird songs, and very close shorebird sightings. Prime Hook Wildlife Management Area (WMA) had wonderful songs of at least 3 Wood Thrushes, many Red-eyed Vireos, Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks. The last 3 were also seen, as was a male American Redstart.

Shorebirds along Prime Hook Road and on Prime Hook Beach were all very cooperative providing great looks. I noted the following shorebirds today: Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone*, Sanderling*, Semipalmated Sandpiper*, Least Sandpiper*,  Dunlin*, and Short-billed Dowitcher. The ones with an * were observed very closely on PH beach. No Red Knots today, but probably next week at Mispillion.

PS - Woodland migrants are still coming through. We had 3 Blackpoll Warblers, an American Redstart, and a Magnolia Warbler all in our Bird Creek in the backyard this afternoon. Below pics were taken this afternoon. Your homework is to id the below birds.

I missed my Tern

But I have not forgotten to post links to our trusted travel providers. An update will be coming up soon. These pics are from our Baja trip with Captain Art and the Searcher.

Nikon Binoculars with expert advice

Paul Guris is a good and trusted birding friend. He operates a pelagic birding operation, with his optics page listed at paulagics.com. Check out his link and talk to Paul or Anita if you have an interest in upgrading your current optics. I have had many great pelagic birding trips with Paul and Anita, and they are both very honest and expert birders, and offer excellent Nikon optics. Best, Bill

Tuesday, May 13 OLLI Field Trip to Gordon's Pond

Great morning weather-wise after some overnight rain concerns, AND some great looks at gorgeous birds, like an almost iridescent male Indigo Bunting in early morning sunlight (thanks to Terry Sohl for above pic), and male Blue Grosbeaks also in great light. Other good birds at Gordon's Pond were Yellow Warbler, scope views of a male Common Yellowthroat about 30 feet away, Eastern Kingbirds, and last but not least, 8 species of shorebirds, of which the Dunlin seemed to rate the highest reviews by our group.

Then out to the ocean beach, for a good look at tracks and a few burrows of Ghost Crabs (above), plus some flyby Black Skimmers and many diving DC Cormorants. After that we went to the wooded park in Rehoboth where some did get to see an American Redstart and a Magnolia Warbler, but admittedly, the park was tough birding.

Our class has now enjoyed 4 field trips from 4/22 to 5/13, and observed 103 species of birds. I am certainly pleased with the birds we have experienced, because we have seen so many very well, and shared a great learning experience.

Next week we meet at Prime Hook HQ at 8 am, and from there we will car pool to the State Wildlife Management Area at Prime Hook.

Baltimore Orioles coming clean in Lewes DE

To Prime Hook, OLLI and Road Scholar birding participants, you have heard me talk about the virtues of moving water. Following are 4 pics from this afternoon in our backyard showing how effective moving water can be. Click on pic for enlarged view. First 3 are of male, last pic is of female checking out male's bathing decision (no doubt she approved, if only because it was time for him to get clean).

Best,
Bill and Sally

OLLI Field Trip to Milford Neck, May 6, 2014

We all enjoyed great weather and some great birds. I think I am safe in saying that the male Scarlet Tanager was the highlight bird for most. The above picture of a Scarlet Tanager was taken by friend and professional photographer, Kevin Karlson of Cape May, NJ.

We also enjoyed good looks at other colorful migrant birds, such as Yellow-breasted Chat, Indigo Bunting, White-eyed Vireo, Black-and-white Warbler, Ovenbird and Prairie Warbler. All these birds are categorized as "neo-tropical migrants", which means they come here to breed and raise their young, and then they return to the new world tropics to spend roughly the other 8 months of the year.

As I mentioned in class, for a link to a detailed map of the Milford Neck area, see the Sussex Bird Club web page on Travel and scroll down under "Maps for birding the DE Coast" to the 2 Milford neck links (many thanks to Chris Bennett for providing this detailed information).

Our next field trip is at Gordon's Pond, 8 am Tue, May 13. Go northeast out of Rehoboth along the road closest to the Atlantic Ocean and you will dead end at the Gordon's Pond parking area.

Tomorrow, OLLI birding field trip - 6 am Tue update

SHOWERS SEEM TO HAVE PASSED, BASED ON RADAR, SO FIELD TRIP IS ON.

We are still a go. May have some rain, but as of 8 pm Mon, looks like showers.

And heck, lets get clean like the attached Blue Jay.

Check for last minute posts Tue before 6 am. And remember, we meet at Prime Hook at 8 am, or at Shore Stop in Milford, N. side of Rt 1 just beyond where Rt 1 and Rt 13 join, at about 8:15 am.

My cell is 302-236-5675 in case you get lost.

Bill

Road Scholar Gordon's Pond bird walk 5/2/14

Our walk this morning was in mostly sunny and only a bit cool conditions, and during it we observed 5 very nice birds we had not seen previously this week. The new birds were: Belted Kingfisher, Blue Grosbeak, Stilt Sandpiper, American Oystercatcher and Red-throated Loon. That brought our group list total to 123 species for the week.

My highlights for today were the male and female Blue Grosbeaks, as they were absolutely awesome viewed through the scope, probably no more than 30 ft. away (I am sure Neal got some great photos which I will post when I get them). I also really enjoyed the Stilt Sandpiper, which we all got to study at some length. It is an uncommon shorebird, which I do not get to see every year.

And from this afternoon, here are 2 pics in our backyard. (You get to do the id :)

These pics were shot through our kitchen window, so they are not real sharp, but they do prove that moving water works.

Our best to all who were on this week's Road Scholar birding program. You were a hardy group, and consequently we all enjoyed many special birds in spite of the adverse weather conditions.

Bill & Sally Fintel, Ed Crawford, John Hoyt, and David Weber

PS - A post of links I promised comes next.