Unfortunately,
we also have one or more hawks hanging around terrorizing our feeder
birds. We have yet to see a hawk, but that is also the norm. The
feeder birds when a hawk is around either freeze, as the hawk looks for
movement to detect prey, or they bolt for cover and do not reappear,
often for an hour or more. The most likely hawks in our yard are either
Cooper's or Sharp-shinned Hawks, as their primary prey is other birds.
It was another gorgeous day with temps close to 70 deg F by 11 am. As pointed out, this meant some migration aspects would be greatly diminished, such as very few scoter flocks and they were far out, plus very few migrating raptors. We still had many good birds, like lots of Red-throated Loons and Northern Gannets, and a good flock of about 6 Brown-headed Nuthatches seen well by all. Following is our bird list of 29 species for this field trip:
Red-throated Loon
Horned Grebe
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Scoter species
Red-tailed Hawk
Sanderling
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Royal Tern
Mourning Dove
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird (heard)
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
Our cumulative species total for all 5 field trips this fall was 58 species, which is very respectable for our limited area and time of year covered.
If you feel inspired to keep improving your birding skills and knowledge, please keep checking back to this blog site. I plan to keep it updated on a regular basis. And don't forget the great Gannet views you can get from the Cape May-Lewes ferry from about now until March.
On November 18 we will meet at the Cape Henlopen State Park Nature Center at 9 am. From there we will bird the Park until about 11 am. Weather at this point looks good.
On our Nov 11 field trip to Indian River Inlet we collectively observed the following 24 species:
Common Loon
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
American Black Duck
Scoter species
Bald Eagle (3 adults)
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Royal Tern
Rock Pigeon
Fish Crow
Carolina Wren
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow
Boat-tailed Grackle
House Finch
Of local bird note, on Nov 13 we had an adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird show up at our feeders. We had one over-winter last winter, and suspect this may be the same individual returning. Below is a picture of him taken on Nov 14.
OLLI Class Members,
The plan is to meet at 9:00 am at the parking lot on the south side of the Inlet, and closest to the ocean. If you are coming from the north, cross the Inlet bridge and make your first right turn heading back north on Access Rd B (see below map, and click on it to enlarge). Take the first possible right and proceed east under the bridge. This will bring you to the main beach parking lot. Enter the lot and proceed north toward the Inlet. That is where we will park. On the below map, it is about where the "Chill" of Big Chill Beach Club is. Coming from the south, take the exit BEFORE the bridge and proceed north to the parking lot on Access Rd A. As of right now the weather looks good.
Hi Class,
Some of you asked if the Mexican Sunflowers in our yard were good cut flowers, and I said yes, so here are 2 yesterday examples.
Today we began at the Fintel's yard for a discussion of their feeders, water features, plantings and bird houses. The local birds were very cooperative, so everyone got good looks at Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Downey Woodpecker and heard our vocal Carolina Wren, plus our Red-bellied Woodpecker's "sneeze call".
From the Fintel's yard we went to Oyster Rocks Road and out into the Great Marsh. Birds along that route were elusive, like it is a good location for Horned Lark, but they were a no-show. However, we did find some good birds, like Greater Yellowlegs and Yellow-rump Warbler.
On the way back to the Fintel's, just south of Oyster Rocks Road along Route 1, there was a group of 4 or 5 Black Vultures spotted by the Fintel's, but apparently missed by all behind the Fintel's. It was clearly not safe to stop on even the Rt. 1 shoulder, so we will keep looking. Now if you want to look your self, their flight behavior is an obvious giveaway.....4 to 6 fast flaps followed by a short glide, then a repeat of that.
Our bird list for today is:
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture - apparently leaders only?
Canada Goose
Greater Yellowlegs
Laughing Gull
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Winter for sure is on the way as we had a cold NE wind and temps of 50°F max.
Details will be posted over this coming weekend on exactly where to meet at Indian River Inlet for the next field trip. A few target birds are Northern Gannets, Common and Red-throated Loons, plus my favorite local winter gull, the Bonaparte's Gull.
Following is an eBird check list of the birds we saw, and the estimated numbers for each species. We observed 35 species in 2.5 hrs, which is very respectable. Note that some species were identified by call. Note that generalized bird groups, like peep sp. and gull sp. are NOT counted in the total species count.
Our primary birding location was the Boardwalk Trail. We also birded one location along the Broadkill Beach Rd. Highlights were 3 Bald Eagles (2 adults and 1 juvenile), 2 Northern Harriers, 30 American Black Ducks, 18 Northern Pintail, 9 Greater Yellowlegs, 25 Forster's Terns, 1 Great Egret, and 18 Yellow-rumped Warblers.
| Canada Goose | 35 |
| Mallard | 7 |
| American Black Duck | 30 |
| Northern Pintail | 18 |
| Mourning Dove | 2 |
| peep sp. | 25 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 9 |
| Laughing Gull | 15 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 8 |
| Herring Gull | 5 |
| gull sp. | 75 |
| Forster's Tern | 25 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 75 |
| Great Blue Heron | 1 |
| Great Egret | 1 |
| Turkey Vulture | 20 |
| Northern Harrier | 2 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 |
| Bald Eagle | 3 |
| Belted Kingfisher | 2 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 2 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 4 |
| Northern Flicker | 5 |
| American Crow | 12 |
| Carolina Chickadee | 2 |
| Tufted Titmouse | 2 |
| Tree Swallow | 4 |
| Carolina Wren | 4 |
| European Starling | 60 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 3 |
| American Robin | 3 |
| House Finch | 1 |
| White-throated Sparrow | 8 |
| Song Sparrow | 2 |
| Eastern Towhee | 1 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 30 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 18 |
To OLLI Fall Birding Class Members,
Today's field trip is a GO, so please meet at the Refuge Headquarters at 9 am. It will be cool and breezy, so warm, windproof clothes are recommended. Also, we have had a lot of recent rain, and the ground may be muddy in spots. Our goals today will be to view shorebirds and waterfowl, plus explore the various good natural areas of Prime Hook, mostly by car.
Here is a link to a Prime Hook Refuge Map, which you may have to copy and paste in to your browser:
https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Region_5/NWRS/South_Zone/Coastal_Delaware_Complex/Prime_Hook/RefugeMap.pdf
On Oct 21, 2021, we birded Cape Henlopen State Park (CHSP) from 10 to 11:30 am. We began at the Nature Center, where we observed Red-breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, House Finch, and Mourning Dove. From there we went to the Point parking lot where we had several Turkey Vultures, and two Osprey diving for fish inside the point. We also had close scope views of a cooperative Herring Gull. From the Point parking lot we went to Herring Point overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and had good views of several Lesser Black-backed Gulls and could clearly see their yellow legs through the telescope. We also observed a small flock of Sanderlings feeding on the waters edge. Our total species count was 14 species. A calm, warm day and a high tide, definitely kept the species number down.
As a reminder, we meet next Thur, Oct 28, at the Prime Hook NWR visitor center at 9 am. By 6 am on the 28th, I will post on this blog if there are any changes to that due to bad weather.
OVERALL
We will focus on bird migration in the fall, bird identification, local birding hotspots, some travel birding hotspots, and we will visit up to 4 local hotspots. The latter is of course weather dependent.
Since some of you may live closer to a field trip destination than to OLLI Lewes, we can plan to meet you at the field trip destination. This will require some coordination in the class one week before the field trip, or via email.
For the field trips, be sure to bring binoculars, a field guide, insect repellent, water and a snack, water resistant wind breaker, and a DE park sticker/pass if you are driving into Cape Henlopen or Indian River Inlet State Parks.
WEATHER PLANNING
We will not do a field trip if the weather is rainy or stormy. You can check our tentative weather plans at 6 am on the day of the field trip by logging in to: https://billfintel.blogspot.com/ If a field trip is cancelled due to weather, we will still do an indoor class of approximately 1 hour.
CLASS OUTLINE
Class 1 - The first hour will definitely be at OLLI Lewes. This first hour will be an orientation and question/answer session re the next 4 classes. Program options will be presented for class input, so programs for the next 4 classes are right now open pending your input. The field trip this day will be to Cape Henlopen.
Class 2 - Field trip to Prime Hook NWR. This is an excellent location for migrating shorebirds and waterfowl, both of which will be on the move.
Class 3 - Our field trip will include the Fintel’s yard, plantings, feeders and water features. After that we will visit Oyster Rocks Road and the Lewes Great Marsh
Class 4 - Our field trip destination is Indian River Inlet and surrounding dune habitat. If this and all previous field trips have been a “GO”, we will have a discussion on where you would like to go in Class 5.
Class 5 - Our field trip will be any previous location we got “weathered out of visiting”, OR the decision made in Class 4.
