Road Scholar Bird Checklist, Sep 27-30, 2016

The checklist can be accessed by clicking HERE. Note that there is a Magnifier button to enlarge the text located in the lower right hand corner. This check list also includes birds seen Friday with the group of 11 at Gordon's Pond.

Field trip locations and highlights are below:

Tuesday, 9/27 - Cape Henlopen State Park in the morning, a cruise south for about 3 miles on the Lewes Rehoboth Canal on the Cape Water Taxi in the afternoon. Weather cloudy with occasional drizzle. Highlights were both Yellow and Black-crowned Night Herons, and on the cruise, 10 Belted Kingfishers and many raptors, including 2 Adult Bald Eagles, a Merlin and a Kestrel.

Wednesday, 9/28 - Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge until after lunch, then Mispillion Inlet and Prime Hook Road in the afternoon. Windy, with one period of heavy rain. Highlights were 18 species of shorebirds including 3 Marbled Godwits and 1 American Golden Plover. Also several Bald Eagles and at least 2 Peregrines were seen.

Thursday, 9/29 - Indian River Inlet, Ocean off Rehoboth Beach, and the Ferry Terminal. Gale force winds all day with light to moderate rain in the morning, and heavy afternoon rain in the afternoon. We stayed indoors for programs during the afternoon. The only bird of note was an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull seen very well mixed in with a flock of Great Black-backed gulls for comparison.

Friday, 9/30 - Gordon's Pond Trail by foot. Windy but only a light drizzle in the first hour. New birds on Friday included Sanderling, Northern Bobwhite, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Indigo Bunting.

Bill's Top 12 Birding Tips

These tips are primarily for someone getting started birding, but even if you consider yourself an experienced birder, you may find some useful advice. For instance, with winter storm Jonas approaching our region, attention to feeding birds is something your backyard birds will benefit from, and you too should get many good visual rewards.

So please, scan through this list compiled and condensed from from 40+ years of birding.......
by me and my birding spouse, Sally.


Bill’s Top 12 Birding Tips

1. Go birding with groups led by an experienced birder 
- he/she will know what species to expect
- he’ll know the key field marks and help you hone in on them
- he’ll know the bird songs and help you learn them
- and he’ll have a spotting scope

2. Buy the best optics you can comfortably afford
- many good brands: Nikon, Swarovski, Swift, Leica, Zeiss
- avoid compact, zoom and high power binoculars
- magnification 7 to 10x, objective lens 30 to 50 mm
- mid range and my choice is 8.5x42
- try binoculars first, especially if you wear glasses
- when it comes time to purchase a spotting scope, you’ll know

3. Purchase at least one good field guide
- Sibley, Kaufman, National Geographic, Peterson
- better yet, with 2 different field guides, you can cross check what they say
- some come with an Eastern edition which narrows options

4. Learn the common resident birds “like the back of your hand”
- when new species arrive during migration, you’ll know you have somebody new
- learn the songs of the most common birds

5. Use and trust published literature, such as 
- range maps, birds do get out of their normal ranges, BUT this is rare
- check-list abundance is quite useful and accurate
- if the check list says your ID is a rare species, you may wish to recheck your ID

6. Bird year round
- 85% of DE birds are migrants, which means only 15% do NOT migrate
- when possible spend extra time birding during migration, which is:
- spring: April-May, with peak the first 2 weeks in May
- fall: Sept-October-November, with peak the last 2 weeks of Sept

7. Learn habitat preferences of the birds you seek
- most warblers don’t hang out on the beaches
- most shorebirds don’t hang out in the woods
- “waders” do like to wade in shallow water impoundments

8. If you can, provide food, water, plantings and bird houses for birds in your yard
- observing birds in your yard helps hone expertise
- it can also provide a great deal of pleasure
- and it can help the birds as well

9. Use the Internet as a resource
- SussexBirdClub.com
- go to SBC Links page for lots of additional information on the internet
- consider DE-Birds to be notified of rare and noteworthy bird sightings 
- Also Google a bird’s name, or Google-Image a bird’s picture
- also use Google maps to get details on a possible birding location

10. Visit the top nearby birding locations as often as you can
- Prime Hook NWR
- Cape Henlopen State Park
- Mispillion, DuPont Nature Center (especially May)
- Trap Pond State Park
- Bombay Hook NWR
- Indian River Inlet (especially winter)
- Cape May/Lewes Ferry

11.Travel and Bird
- new habitat means new birds
- definitely research where you plan to travel
- there are many very nice lodges which cater to birders as well as the general public

12. Enjoy what you see! 
- yes, Cardinals are beautiful, as is the Scarlet Tanager
- common birds sometimes do uncommon things
- and toucans are really cool as well
- enjoying the birds is why you go birding

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

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.

Road Scholar - Birding Delaware's Seashore and Refuges Spring 2014

Spring has been hiding, as have the birds, but we still managed to record 92 species of birds in the past two days of cold temps, strong east winds, and lots of rain. About 10 species were only heard, the rest were also seen, and most seen well.

Our first day was at Trap Pond State Park, and included a Pontoon boat trip. Our second day was at Bombay Hook NWR, and included a tactical success having lunch on the bus because of heavy rain.

Highlight birds the past 2 days have been good looks at: Prothonotary Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Louisiana Water-thrush, Least Bittern, Black-crowned Night-Heron, several Bald Eagles, Black-necked Stilts, Blue-winged Teal........ and hearing the songs of Blue-winged Warbler, Marsh Wren, and Yellow-throated Vireo.

Again, thanks to Ed Crawford and John Hoyt for helping in Sally's absence due to her wrist injury.

Drying off and warming up,
Bill

 PS - RE: Name of Prothonotary Warbler, from Wikipedia:

• The name "Prothonotary" refers to clerks in the Roman Catholic church, whose robes were bright yellow.

Road Scholar FT to Gordon's Pond and Rehoboth Woods, 5/3/13, Plus Summary Checklist

Red-headed Woodpecker, Bill Fintel photo

The last morning we started at the Gordon’s Pond area of Cape Henlopen State Park. It was cold and blowing about 20 mph out of the East, so land birding was next to impossible. Also, for unknown reasons, shorebirds were scarce, and waterfowl were non-existent. Thus, we promptly returned to the bus and went into Rehoboth to a small wooded park there.

This proved to be a good move, as we encountered a very cooperative (and rare for this region) Red-headed Woodpecker, as well as a Blue-headed Vireo. Also seen by many who tried for it was a colorful Parula Warbler.

Our tally for 3 and ½ days of birding was 120 species. This is about average for visiting the locations we visited, and actually is good considering the unusually cool spring. The following link is to a pdf of our summary checklist for 4/30 to 5/4/13. (Use the + tab to enlarge if needed for readability.)

Road Scholar FT to Cape Henlopen and Prime Hook 5/2/13

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 Piping Plovers at Cape Henlopen, Bill Fintel photo

On day three we started at Cape Henlopen State Park at the point which separates the Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Our goal was to view Piping Plovers at low tide and we were rewarded with very good views of at least two individuals. We also had good looks at American Oystercatcher and Brant, and back at the Nature Center feeder, we saw both Brown-headed and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

From there we went to Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge where many enjoyed shopping in the Friends gift store for field guides and memorabilia. On the impoundments, the numbers of herons and egrets was very impressive, plus we also had very close looks at Dunlin, Osprey, and even a perched Black Vulture.

We went back to Cape Henlopen for lunch, and after lunch we were treated to gangbuster looks of a male Eastern Towhee right next to our bus. We concluded at Herring Point with terrific views of Prairie Warbler, and many people got close up views of a Field Sparrow.

Our tally for this day was 74 species. Weather again was cool and breezy, but mostly sunny.

Road Scholar FT to Mispillion and Bombay Hook 5/1/13

Dunlin and Black-necked Stilt, Bill Fintel photo

To begin the day we made a short stop at the Fintel’s backyard to hear about unique feeders and water features. There we also had good views of a calling Great Crested Flycatcher.

We then went to Evans Road at Slaughter Beach where we saw some reasonably close American Avocets. After that we stopped along the marsh just before the DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion, where we had amazingly good views of at least 5 Clapper Rails and a singing Seaside Sparrow.

Once at the Nature Center we saw many shorebirds, and after much searching found a single Red Knot which everyone viewed through a scope (there may have been 2 individuals). Other good birds observed there were a pair of American Oystercatchers and 3 Bald Eagles.

On the entrance road to Bombay Hook we had Horned Larks and an American Pipit in breeding (alternate) plumage. On the loop road around the impoundments we observed large numbers of shorebirds including Dunlin (above), Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plover, Least Sandpiper, Willet, Short-billed Dowitcher and great looks at Black-necked Stilts (above). We concluded our visit with excellent views of about 20 Black-crowned Night-Herons at Bear Swamp, and 2 White-crowned Sparrows at the Nature Center.

Our total species count for the day was 80 species. Weather was cool, breezy, and sunny.

Road Scholar Field Trip to Trap Pond 4/30/13

Trap Pond, DE State Parks photo

We began our 4-day Road Scholar program at Trap Pond State Park in southeastern Delaware. Temperatures were in the 50’s with light rain falling and a strong east wind. Even so, all enjoyed a pontoon boat excursion on the pond, captained by park ranger Will Koth. Highlights were excellent views of the extensive Bald Cypress stand, and good views of Prothonotary Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, and Osprey.

We had split into two groups, and each group also walked the Island Trail while the other group was on the pontoon boat. On the trail a Louisiana Waterthrush, which a lucky few also saw, serenaded both groups and one group had elbow-rubbing looks at both a male and female Prothonatary Warbler.

Will Koth was kind enough to let us have lunch in the Nature Center, even setting up chairs and tables. From Trap Pond we went to the coast and up to Indian River Inlet, where we braved the cold east winds, but no rain, to see many Northern Gannets, and some Red-throated and Common Loons, Forester’s and Common Terns, and a real treat of a Horned Grebe in breeding plumage.

If you want to view any of the above-mentioned birds, go to:

http://birds.audubon.org/birds/prothonotary-warbler and type the bird’s name into the search bar. It will give you a list to click-on your desired link. Try to find the link that goes to an Audubon page like the Prothonotary Warbler page, and note there are 5 or more different photos from VIREO to view of your selected bird.

Our first day tallied 55 species, many of which we did not see again. I will post a summary of day 2 to Bombay Hook and the DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion next.