Delaware Specialties 5/19-5/21--Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Grasshopper Sparrow

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Clayton, DE

Shari & I celebrated our anniversary in Delaware this weekend, because

Dover is for Lovers

 (I just made that up, but if the Dover Tourism Bureau would like to get in touch with me...)

American Avocets

Naturally, before we even dropped off our bags, we did a spin around Bombay Hook. There are two shorebird species that are rare visitors to New Jersey yet are commonplace at BH. The first, American Avocet, we found a dozen of in the Raymond Pool, the first impoundment you come to. They were about the only shorebirds in the pool, in which the water was very high--good for the dozen swans in there, not so good for migrating shorebirds. The second shorebird, Black-necked Stilt, can be a little more elusive, even there, but we found a smattering of them around Shearness Pool, the biggest impoundment and usually the spot with most of the action. The excitement there, the last week or so, has been a pair of Sandhill Cranes. The Shearness Pool is not a place you'd expect to find cranes--they seem to gravitate more to fields full of corn stubble, although their close cousins, the Whooping Cranes, make their living in marshes. Knowing they were there we spent some time scanning the northern shore of the pool, quite a distance away. Eventually, Shari located them, loping along the edge of the marsh. They were really far away, but they are really big birds, so identification was not a problem. 

Black-necked Stilt

After a few hours there it was getting toward 5 o'clock, but I wanted to make one more stop before we headed for the place we were staying. Last year, at an obscure retention pond on the edge of subdivision in Clayton, about 10 miles west of Bombaby Hook, a flock of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks made themselves at home for a good part of the summer. We saw them in September of last year when we were down there. This year, they returned, a flock of 20 strong. I can't resist these goofy looking birds, so we drove 20 minutes to spend 4 minutes looking at them, then drove down to Dover. 

Thursday, we drove south. Last year in September we discovered Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, right next to the ferry and liked it, so we started there. The real attraction at that park is Brown-headed Nuthatch. Delaware is just about the northernmost end of its range. Occasionally, some are reported in Kent County (the middle one of Delaware's 3), but they're rare there, while in Sussex, the southern county, they're listed as expected. When we first went to look for them in Kent a few years ago, someone told me the road to go on and then to look in the loblolly pines. Man, I thought, I'm no arborist, what's a loblolly pine look like? I didn't realize that in Delaware, all the pine trees are loblolly pines. We found the nuthatches that day. The problem with the nuthatch is that it likes to be very high up in the trees and loblolly pines, unlike the more stunted pitch pines we have around us, are very tall trees. You more often hear them than see them. That was the case at Henlopen. We walked on the same trail as we had last year, but it took us a little longer to hear the distinct squeaky toy call than it did previously. At first, Shari heard them (of course), and then I was able to hear them, but although it sounded like they were right in front of us, we couldn't get eyes on them. 

We worked our way back to Dover, stopping at a couple of favorite spots--Broadkill Marsh, which is part of Prime Hook, and the DuPont Nature Center in Mispillion. Scoping the jetty from the deck of the nature center we saw an overwhelming number of shorebirds feeding along the narrow shore, where dozens of horseshoe crabs were washed up on the sand. There were easily 10,000 Dunlins, and Ruddy Turnstones, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Black-bellied Plovers in the hundreds. It was like a pulsating carpet of birds. Out of all of them I was able to pick out one Red Knot, which impressed me, since I'm not one for standing around scoping, looking for what does not belong.  

Today, we returned to Bombay Hook, looking for whatever we hadn't send or heard before. We started out on the Boardwalk Trail and almost immediately got Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and then out on the marsh, we heard a Seaside Sparrow. Marsh Wrens were singing their bubbly song everywhere. The Raymond Pool's levels hadn't changed--still full of swans, and the dozen avocets of Thursday continued.  On our way toward the exit, Shari heard a Grasshopper Sparrow. They're pretty hard to hear, at least for me, but I got out of the car, cocked my head, and heard the thin, insect call. Sadly, these birds have disappeared from my local spot. I used to be able to go to Colliers Mills, walk along Success Road, and see hear a few sparrows. No longer. Probably too many dogs being trained to hunt in those fields. The best part, though, was coming back after our second loop, we stopped to listen and couldn't hear any GRSPs but, just as Shari restarted the car, one flew out of the field to our left, zipped in front our windshield, and helicoptered down into the middle of the field across the road.  

Green Heron

At the turnoff from Raymond to Shearness, there's a little muddy area. This morning we saw a photographer intently looking down into the space, but we didn't think much of it, since what interests a photographer is necessarily interesting to us. But coming back toward the visitor's center, we saw more people staring in, so we pulled over. It just looked like mud and grass until I saw the Green Heron skulking around. Not a rarity or a year bird (well, it was for Shari), but a great looking bird and a family fave. 

Our 3 days' list total is 88. Amazingly, it does not include Song Sparrow. How that got missed is a total mystery. Sometimes you are unaware of a gap in the list until after it is compiled, but on the 2nd day I'd mentioned to Shari we hadn't heard or seen any, so I was on the lookout and still came up empty.

Species                                           First Sighting
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck  Amalfi Dr. Retention Pond
Canada Goose  Bombay Hook
Mute Swan  Bombay Hook
Mallard  Bombay Hook
Mourning Dove  Cape Henlopen State Park
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  Bombay Hook
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  Cape Henlopen State Park
Clapper Rail  Bombay Hook
Sandhill Crane  Bombay Hook
Black-necked Stilt  Bombay Hook
American Avocet  Bombay Hook
American Oystercatcher  Broadkill Marsh
Black-bellied Plover  Bombay Hook
Semipalmated Plover  Bombay Hook
Killdeer  Bombay Hook
Ruddy Turnstone  DuPont Nature Center
Red Knot  DuPont Nature Center
Dunlin  Bombay Hook
Least Sandpiper  Bombay Hook
Semipalmated Sandpiper  Bombay Hook
Short-billed Dowitcher  Bombay Hook
Greater Yellowlegs  Bombay Hook
Willet  Bombay Hook
Lesser Yellowlegs  Bombay Hook
Laughing Gull  Bombay Hook
Herring Gull  Broadkill Marsh
Great Black-backed Gull  DuPont Nature Center
Caspian Tern  Bombay Hook
Forster's Tern  Bombay Hook
Royal Tern  DuPont Nature Center
Double-crested Cormorant  Bombay Hook
Great Blue Heron  Bombay Hook
Great Egret  Bombay Hook
Snowy Egret  Bombay Hook
Green Heron  Broadkill Marsh
Glossy Ibis  Broadkill Marsh
Turkey Vulture  Bombay Hook
Osprey  Cape Henlopen State Park
Bald Eagle  Bombay Hook
Red-bellied Woodpecker  Dover
Downy Woodpecker  Bombay Hook
Northern Flicker  Bombay Hook
Eastern Wood-Pewee  Bombay Hook
Great Crested Flycatcher  Bombay Hook
Eastern Kingbird  Bombay Hook
White-eyed Vireo  Bombay Hook
Red-eyed Vireo  Bombay Hook
Blue Jay  Cape Henlopen State Park
Fish Crow  Bombay Hook
Carolina Chickadee  Cape Henlopen State Park
Tufted Titmouse  Cape Henlopen State Park
Purple Martin  Bombay Hook
Tree Swallow  Bombay Hook
Barn Swallow  Bombay Hook
Brown-headed Nuthatch  Cape Henlopen State Park
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  Bombay Hook
House Wren  Bombay Hook
Marsh Wren  Bombay Hook
Carolina Wren  Bombay Hook
European Starling  Dover
Gray Catbird  Bombay Hook
Brown Thrasher  Bombay Hook
Northern Mockingbird  Lewes
Eastern Bluebird  Bombay Hook
Wood Thrush  Bombay Hook
American Robin  Bombay Hook
Cedar Waxwing  Dover
House Sparrow  Bombay Hook
House Finch  Dover
American Goldfinch  Bombay Hook
Grasshopper Sparrow  Bombay Hook
Chipping Sparrow  Cape Henlopen State Park
Field Sparrow  Bombay Hook
Seaside Sparrow  Bombay Hook
Eastern Towhee  Bombay Hook
Eastern Meadowlark  Whitehall Crossroads
Red-winged Blackbird  Bombay Hook
Brown-headed Cowbird  Cape Henlopen State Park
Common Grackle  Bombay Hook
Ovenbird  Bombay Hook
Common Yellowthroat  Bombay Hook
Yellow Warbler  Bombay Hook
Blackpoll Warbler  Bombay Hook
Pine Warbler  Cape Henlopen State Park
Scarlet Tanager  Bombay Hook
Northern Cardinal  Bombay Hook
Blue Grosbeak  Bombay Hook
Indigo Bunting  Bombay Hook