eBird Check Lists for May 22 Field Trip to Mispillion and nearby

Many thanks to Rob Blye for helping lead this field trip and for compiling 4 eBird check lists for the 4 locations we birded. Folling are links to these check lists in chronological order:

https://ebird.org/pa/view/checklist/S56614405

https://ebird.org/pa/view/checklist/S56614931

https://ebird.org/pa/view/checklist/S56620835

https://ebird.org/pa/view/checklist/S56657222

May 22, 2019 OLLI Field Trip to Mispillion

This was our last class field trip for spring 2019, and it was a good one. The highlight for me was a field with an estimated 2,500 Black-bellied Plover along Prime Hook Road. We also saw many shorebirds from the observation deck of the DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Inlet. Unfortunately that consisted of only about 5 Red knots, that were also far away. Perhaps the main numbers have yet to arrive on their way north. Rob Blye's eBird check list links will be in the next post, and after that I will try to compile one class checklist for this spring.

On the visual side, Steve Walker again got some great bird pics from this past field trip.

May 14, 2019 Prime Hook Field Trip Highlights

Links to eBird check lists compiled by Rob Blye can be found below (in English):
https://ebird.org/pa/view/checklist/S56266009
https://ebird.org/pa/view/checklist/S56485175

We were very fortunate to get awesome views of a male Prothonotary Warbler from the Fleetwood Pond dock. Below are two pictures of it taken by class member Steve Walker.

The nickname for this bird is the Golden Swamp Warbler, because they are found almost exclusively in wooded swamps. Other warblers seen well were Northern Parula, Yellow, Blackpoll and Common Yellowthroat.

Our next and last field trip will be to Slaughter Beach and Mispillion Inlet, with target birds being shorebirds, including the endangered Red Knot. Meet at Prime Hook Visitor Center at 8:00 am to car pool up there. (Or meet at the DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion about 8:30 am.)

Check List of Birds for the May 1 Olli field trip to Cape Henlopen

This is actually a series of eBird check lists compiled by Rob Blye. Each check list is for a different but identifiable area at Cape Henlopen. Rob has even included the observed numbers for each species. Thanks very much to Rob and Carol for helping out on the May 1 field trip. To view each list, just click on the below links:

https://ebird.org/colombia/view/checklist/S55969886

https://ebird.org/colombia/view/checklist/S55969928

https://ebird.org/colombia/view/checklist/S55636137

RE tomorrow's field trip, there is a chance of showers in the morning, but as I see it right now, it should not be a problem to do what we have planned. I will definitely update this blog with the latest weather info and any plan changes at 6 am tomorrow.

Wed, Sep 19, OLLI Field Trip to Prime Hook

Mosquitoes, mosquitoes....and more mosquitoes along the Boardwalk Trail. So we retreated to the breezes along Broadkill Beach Road and Prime Hook Road, and were rewarded with many nice birds. 38 species per my count:

Canada Goose
American Black Duck 
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle 
American Avocet 
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull 
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern 
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern 
Black Skimmer 
Mourning Dove 
Belted Kingfisher 
Eastern Wood-Pewee 
Blue Jay 
American Crow 
Carolina Chickadee 
Carolina Wren
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird            

Our backyard bird creeks and misters have been attracting some good warblers, that we watch from our screened-in porch!!! A few notables have been Nashville, Chestnut-sided, Parula, Redstart, Black-throated Green and Mourning Warbler.....so hopefully this coming Wed will still be good in our backyard. 

Birds observed on 9/5/18 OLLI field trip to Prime Hook NWR

It was a hot and humid morning, with lots of mosquitoes early, but we did observe 35 species of birds, the best ones being along Prime Hook Rd. Following is our list from this morning. The (h) means the bird was only heard, but that is still a valid id. Of course we want everyone in the class to also get a good look at every bird species we encounter. The list sequence is in order of a recent American Ornithological Union's listing of North American Birds.

Canada Goose, American Black Duck, Mallard, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Greater Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Caspian Tern,  Forster's Tern,  Royal Tern,  Black Skimmer, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker (h), Northern Flicker,  Pileated Woodpecker (h), Eastern Wood-Pewee (h), Great Crested Flycatcher,  White-eyed Vireo (h),  Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren,  Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling,  Eastern Towhee (h), Northern Cardinal,  Red-winged Blackbird.

Next week we meet at the Gordon's Pond parking lot north of Rehoboth Beach. Drive to the beach north of the Henlopen Hotel and drive north along the beach until the road ends at the Gordon's Pond parking lot. A DE State park pass is required.

Best birds we observed at Cape Henlopen on 4/25/18

If you were on this field trip, you no doubt recall the cool, foggy and windy weather. My notes say a high of 55 degrees, and SE winds of 20+ mph. But we still saw some excellent birds:
Piping Plover
Black-bellied Plover
Willet
Sanderling
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Field Sparrow

Tomorrow's weather looks excellent and migrants are moving. We had 3 Baltimore Orioles in our yard on Sunday, and today had a Parula and a Yellow Warbler. As a reminder, tomorrow we meet at Prime Hook NWR headquarters just off Route 16, east of Route 1 at 8 am.
Best, Bill and Sally

Susex Bird Club Check List for Prime Hook, Oct 30, 2016

About 20 members of the Sussex Bird Club visited Prime Hook NWR on Oct 30, 2016. Leaders were Bill Fintel and Rob Blye. The group observed 57 species, with some highlights being White-crowned and Saltmarsh Sparrow, Winter Wren, Tree Swallows, 9 species of shorebirds, several Bald Eagles, a late Osprey, and a Peregrine Falcon. The complete list can be accessed HERE.

OLLI Fall 2016 Birding Checklist - Update after 11/2/16 Class

The 11/2 class went to Gordon's Pond. We added 12 species to our cumulative class list for a current total of 51 species. Highlights were 4 juvenile White Ibis, Northern Shoveler, Royal Tern, Eastern Phoebe, Tree Swallow, and Swamp Sparrow. We also had distant views of a Northern Gannet, and a quick look at a Northern Harrier at the very end of the trip. Our next class begins at Holt's Landing State Park and then goes to the Delaware Botanic Gardens. See the 11/4/16 posting for details.

HERE is the link to the updated check list.

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.

Shorebirds Observed on May 18 Osher Field Trip to Mispillion Inlet

Our group of twelve today observed our target bird, the Red Knot, as well as 10 other species of shorebirds, plus delightful views of a Clapper Rail and singing Seaside Sparrow. The shorebirds we observed (in taxonomic order) included: Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, American Oystercatcher, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Sanderling, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Dunlin and Short-billed Dowithcher.

If you add to this the 7 species of shorebirds we saw on other Osher field trips this spring, we had a very respectable total of 18 species of shorebirds for our spring class. The additional 7 species includes: Semipalmated Plover, Piping Plover, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Least Sandpiper.

Spring 2015 Osher Birding Class Check List

Our cumulative check list for all 6 class field trips was 116 species observed, and 2 more heard. Birds are only counted if at least one student observed the bird.

To view the check list as a pdf, click CLASS LIST.

Pelagic Birds Out of Lewes, DE, May 29, 2015

On an offshore fishing trip today, we* observed many pelagic birds rarely seen from land in Delaware. More or less in order of appearance they were:
Manx Shearwater, Cory's Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Great Shearwater, Wilson's Storm-Petrel, Pomarine Jaeger, and Arctic Tern.

We also had delightful views of the following marine mammals: Pilot Whales, Common Dolphin, Rizzo's Dolphin, as well as good views of Mako and Hammerhead Sharks, Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish), and over 50 Portuguese Man-of-War Jellyfish.

And yes we also caught some tasty fish, but as this is a bird blog........I will limit my comments to saying the sushi will be great :)

* Our fishing/birding team was Ed Sigda (boat owner), Mike Fritz (from Cape May) and me.

Class 4 Field Trip to PH State Wildlife Mgt Area

On this May 6, 2015 field trip, I recorded 68 species, so it was our most productive field trip so far, and not unexpected, since we have entered peak migration time. This coming Wednesday's trip to Milford Neck should also produce migrants seen only briefly in spring and fall.

Highlights from our May 6 field trip include: Glossy Ibis - a flock flying over the Grasshopper Sparrow field, 3 Flycatchers: E. Wood Pewee, Acadian and Great Crested........Horned Lark, and best of all, a good variety of "wood warblers": N. Parula, Black-throated Blue, Yel-rumped, Yel-throated, Pine, Blackpoll, B&W, Prothonotary, Ovenbird, and Com Yelthroat.

Probably our best highlights were excellent views of the drop dead gorgeous Scarlet Tanager, and the super elusive Grasshopper Sparrow. We also had many fantastic views of the "Blue guys"....Blue Grosbeak and Indigo Bunting.

Looking forward to this upcoming field trip to Milford Neck.....It is back woods Sussex at its best, and warbler plus shorebird migrations should still be near peak.......

Hope to see you Wed,
Bill

SUMMARY - OLLI Field Trip, 4/15/15, and Bird Feeder Tips

First, we discussed bird feeding and grackle problems. I said I thought on this blog I had posted some detailed information about my home made feeder that excluded Grackles......and yes I had. It is HERE. Also note that I found my own posts by using Labels (on the left) and clicking on feeders. Try it for other topics of interest. Upcoming, will be some today-photos of my Safe Haven Feeder with photos of Purple Finches...so you can compare to more common House Finches.

Today was a productive day, and even an exceptional day compared to last week. Our cumulative class list is now up to 53 species observed, and 6 more heard. Highlights today were certainly the Yellow-throated Warbler, Ovenbird and Pine Warbler (all warblers), plus the large number of American Avocets (my estimate is 300+). Also noteworthy was the Great Horned Owl with chick, the large numbers of Northern Shovelers, good looks at a Hairy Woodpecker, and many very attractive male displaying Red-winged Blackbirds.

So next week at Cape Henlopen, maybe the weather and birds will cooperate, and hopefully we will get to see Piping Plover and Brown-headed Nuthatch, 2 specialties for the Park that we missed on our first trip there.

American Avocet from today's class

Many thanks for such an enthusiastic Fall 2014 Osher class

Sally and I have been working on the cumulative bird list for this fall's Osher Lifelong Learning class in Lewes, DE, and I will post it soon.

In the meantime, to get you adventuresome, attached are 2 pictures from offshore birding (and fishing). They are of Wilson's Storm-petrels, a bird about the size of a Purple Martin. It spends 90+% of its life at sea, only coming ashore to breed on Southern hemisphere islands. They can usually be seen from shore at Cape Henlopen in mid summer, but much better from a boat.