Bombay Hook | Prime Hook 3/29-30--Blue-winged Teal, Clapper Rail, American Avocet, Black-bellied Plover, Forster's Tern, Snowy Egret, Purple Martin, Yellow-throated Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler, Prime Hook

For my birthday (thank you, I'm officially old), Shari took us to Delaware for two days of birding the two big NWRs down there, Bombay Hook and Prime Hook. It was the first time in over a year that I've been out of state. While late March is probably not the ideal time to be down there as you're between waterfowl and shorebird seasons, I was very glad to see one of my favorite species, American Avocet, in the hundreds yesterday, a nice birthday present.  While they for the most part remained too far away to get decent photographs, the flocks were easily viewed through the scope and they were in such numbers that just the patterns of white, black, and rufous in the distance was an impressive sight. 

American Avocets, Bombay Hook

Purple Martin, Bombay Hook

Our first year bird was found in the parking lot of Bombay Hook within a minute of our arrival. Two Purple Martins were already checking out the one martin house that is permanently up, being an old wooden structure that is immobile on its post. 

Thousands of Dunlin were flying in and out of the Raymond Pool. Scoping the huge flock a couple of Black-bellied Plovers stood out, large and plump compared to the smaller sandpipes. I can't remember if it was over Raymond or Shearness that we saw our first Forster's Tern of the year, but I do remember that at the far end of Shearness was where we saw our FOY Snowy Egret. Herons and egrets were in surprisingly short supply there--it wasn't until Finis Pool that we came upon 4 Great Egrets. 

This morning we drove down to Prime Hook and again, in the parking lot, we got our first year bird, a calling Clapper Rail. Some other birders claimed a King Rail along the boardwalk trail, but we didn't hear it and I have to say I'm a tad dubious about that, but hey, it isn't my state to worry about. The coolest bird probably of the two days we came upon because, as we driving out, Shari saw a road we'd never taken and just impulsively turned down it. It lead to a canoe launch and while we didn't see any waterfowl there, on the road in Shari spotted a Yellow-rumped Warbler, and, as we were walking back to our car, I heard a warbler song I couldn't identify, not surprisingly. I just started playing songs of early-arriving warblers, like waterthrushes but they were not like anything we were hearing. Then I thought, well, I don't know Yellow-rumps song because I always see them in winter, so I played that and it was wrong too. But next to Yellow-rump was Yellow-throated Warbler, which I played on a whim and it didn't seem to match, but then I heard the bird singing right behind us and sure enough, I had inadvertently called in Yellow-throated Warbler!

Forster's Tern, DuPont Nature Center

On our way back north we stopped at the DuPont Nature Center, another favorite spot in Delaware, specifically hoping to get Shari her FOY American Oystercatcher and we were successful with two pairs on the jetty. Then it was back up to Bombay Hook for one more circuit of the pools where we saw even more avocets than we had the day before (alas, no Black-necked Stilts, a much harder bird to find in the state) and we added our final year bird when we saw four ducks that looked different and braved the wind gusts to confirm that they were indeed what we suspected, a set of drake Blue-winged Teals. 

For the two days we totaled 69 species, not bad for a time of year that falls between two stools.

Species                First Sighting

Snow Goose   Bombay Hook

Canada Goose   Bombay Hook

Mute Swan   Bombay Hook

Wood Duck   Bombay Hook

Blue-winged Teal   Bombay Hook

Northern Shoveler   Bombay Hook

Gadwall   Bombay Hook

Mallard   Leipsic River Bridge

American Black Duck   Bombay Hook

Northern Pintail   Bombay Hook

Green-winged Teal   Bombay Hook

Bufflehead   Bombay Hook

Ruddy Duck   Bombay Hook

Pied-billed Grebe   Bombay Hook

Mourning Dove   Bombay Hook

Clapper Rail   Prime Hook

American Coot   Bombay Hook

American Avocet   Bombay Hook

American Oystercatcher   DuPont Nature Center

Black-bellied Plover   Bombay Hook

Dunlin   Bombay Hook

Greater Yellowlegs   Bombay Hook

Lesser Yellowlegs   Bombay Hook

Ring-billed Gull   Bombay Hook

Herring Gull   Bombay Hook

Great Black-backed Gull   Prime Hook

Forster's Tern   Bombay Hook

Double-crested Cormorant   DuPont Nature Center

Great Blue Heron   Bombay Hook

Great Egret   Bombay Hook

Snowy Egret   Bombay Hook

Little Blue Heron   DuPont Nature Center

Black Vulture   Bombay Hook

Turkey Vulture   Bombay Hook

Osprey   Bombay Hook

Northern Harrier   Bombay Hook

Bald Eagle   Bombay Hook

Red-tailed Hawk   Bombay Hook

Belted Kingfisher   Bombay Hook

Red-bellied Woodpecker   Bombay Hook

American Kestrel   Bombay Hook

Merlin   Bombay Hook

Eastern Phoebe   Bombay Hook

Blue Jay   Prime Hook

American Crow   Sleep Inn Dover

Fish Crow   Bombay Hook

Carolina Chickadee   Prime Hook

Purple Martin   Bombay Hook

Tree Swallow   Bombay Hook

Golden-crowned Kinglet   Bombay Hook

Carolina Wren   Bombay Hook

European Starling   Bombay Hook

Northern Mockingbird   Sleep Inn Dover

Eastern Bluebird   Bombay Hook

American Robin   Bombay Hook

House Sparrow   Bombay Hook

House Finch   Bombay Hook

Chipping Sparrow   Prime Hook

Field Sparrow   Prime Hook

Song Sparrow   Prime Hook

Swamp Sparrow   Prime Hook

Eastern Towhee   Bombay Hook

Red-winged Blackbird   Bombay Hook

Brown-headed Cowbird   Prime Hook

Common Grackle   Wawa Dover

Pine Warbler   Prime Hook

Yellow-rumped Warbler   Prime Hook

Yellow-throated Warbler   Prime Hook

Northern Cardinal   Bombay Hook