היומן של ellendale

For the second time in my recent naturalist adventures I set out specifically for one bird and was blown away by a second sighting. In early January I set out to find the Crested Caracara that had been hanging out in Rehoboth Beach. I found it and it was exciting but the excitement waned when I found an Eastern Screech Owl at Prime Hook NWR later in the day. Today, I talked hubby into going with me to Silver Lake in Rehoboth to see the Canvasback Ducks. We saw them, and were excited to see them. On the way home we decided to swing by Prime Hook to see if we could see the juvenile Bald Eagles which we found, way off in the distance. Before turning around for home, we decided to take a peek at Prime Hook Beach on Delaware Bay to see if there was anything interesting, after all it was only another tenth of a mile. WOW, am I glad we did. The largest congregation of Snow Geese we have seen. Based on measurements using Google Earth I estimate the flock stretched more than a quarter mile along the shore. Truly an exciting find and one we will never forget.

I was scheduled to attend a historic town walk in Port Penn and planned extra time to get in some birding. The Route 9 corridor in Delaware is unbelievable with numerous wildlife areas including Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Although I was limited on time I was able to visit Augustine Wildlife Area, Augustine Beach, Woodland Beach Wildlife Area and Little Creek Wildlife Area. I have been trying to find smaller birds but the big ones like Bald Eagles (saw 10 today), Hawks (saw 8 but was only able to photograph 4), geese, swans and ducks keep getting my attention. I did find a Red Bellied Woodpecker and a Golden-crowned Kinglet along with the usual, Red-winged Blackbird, Cardinal and Northern Mockingbird. It was a great day – partly sunny and ended up with temps of 53 degrees. My bird total for 2017 is now 62.