Birding Belleplain and Reeds Beach

Howdee all,

More fun birding in Cape May area.

Yesterday morning we thought we would change it up and go on a bird walk in the woods. We were able to hook up with a group out of CMBO, to bird Belleplain State Forest.

I always find it helpful to be on these walks with so many knowledgeable people..

Besides learning the birds and their songs and call notes…I want to learn more about where they live..and when.

I really don't like to read technical books…So I rely on outings like this to pick up knowledge along with reading other  Birdie blogs.

There weren't many Passerines in the area. We did see and hear some good birds.

Mostly, my photos of warblers and small birds are blurry and distant shots..I wont share those with you!

I did happen to get a few decent shots.

Acadian Flycatcher Yellow Breasted Chat   I still like to look down as well as up when I bird…

Wild Sarsaparilla

This area below..near the bridge is one of the hot spots for birding here.

    After Belleplain we took a drive to East point lighthouse. Stopped at the impoundments at Heislerville to see the Curlew Sandpipers again and then went to

Reeds Beach to see some Red Knots.

The beach was wild with birds. The tide was rising.As the waves came in the birds moved out of the way of the water.

Notice the big Herring Gull, he is above in the picture as well..he never moved…just hung out while the frenzy was all around him.There were plenty of Red Knots!

I like this time of year, for bird ID..Its easier for me with their breeding plumage…otherwise I am lost in a brown/gray haze of birds that all look alike.I couldn't get enough of all the beautiful colors.

Do you see the Red Knots? Check out their red chest..I love the orange legs of the Ruddy turnstone.

       Hope you enjoyed the birds!

If you didn't get enough ..watch the feeding frenzy via Video.

 

How about you Sickstas and mothers..Are you getting sick of seeing Birds?

Do you think your Daughter, Sicksta is sprouting wings?

Birding the impoundment, Heislerville,NJ

Howdee all,

Wow…wow…I will say it one more time…Wow!

Yesterday we left Delaware and took the ferry from Lewes to Cape May.

We weren't sure where to bird so I asked the Birders via Chirptracker and Twitter.

Tom Reed aka TRbirds from twitter and David La Puma aka Woodcreeper ,  John Beetham aka Dendroica  from Chirptracker and Twitter all chirped or tweeted back locations for us to go and I cant thank them enough. 

They all felt that one particular impoundment in Heislerville @ high tide would be great…and it was!

Thanks guys!

Do you see birds?

I do…

Allot of birds!

Walk a little closer…

Whoops..

You scared them..be quiet..don't get sooo excited!

Ok ..that's better…so what do you see?

Some great breeding plumage!

Gor gee ous!

foreground right. Black-bellied Plover,behind Black bellied-mostly Dunlin, Center-Black Skimmers, Back- mostly Short billed dowitchers

Please do yourself a favor and watch this video..You will want to come here this time of year!

You will ..You must!

   

   I just adore the colors and textures!

Two Semipalmated Plover amongst Semipalmated sandpipers Semi-Palmateds Plovers..gotta love that black necklace!

and the other Semis

Oh..Guess what? 

We saw a life bird…A rare..but regular migrant to the east coast.

Here he is…ok not a close-up ..but what do you expect from a 20x point and shoot?

Mr. Curlew sandpiper

   Nicely ..de-curved bill …Rich rufous color

Welcome his mate…

Ms. Curlew sandpiper

Just as beautiful…lighter in color.

One more life bird..who's photo I did not get.

American Golden Plover

What an afternoon we had!

Hope you enjoyed it to.

Come one,Come all..to the Horseshoe Crab Egg stravaganza ..all Red Knots>>please bring friends and family!

Howdee all,

I am submitting this for Bird Photography Weekly…There will be birds in this post..I promise!

Wow…This was some party! Horseshoe crabs like I have never seen before…doing their thing..laying eggs.

Slaughter beach, DE The eggs are very tiny…they lay thousands

Horseshoe Crab Mating Ritual

“Each spring during the high tides of the new and full moons, thousands of horseshoe crabs descend on the Delaware Bay shoreline to spawn.

Males, two-thirds the size of their mates, cluster along the water's edge as the females arrive. With glove-like claws on its first pair of legs, the male hangs on to the female's shell and is pulled up the beach to the high tide line.

The female pauses every few feet to dig a hole and deposit as many as 20,000 pearly green, birdshot-sized eggs. The male then fertilizes the eggs as he is pulled over the nest. After the spawning is complete, the crabs leave and the waves wash sand over the nest.”  click here to learn more and here

Birdies are here to feast on these eggs!   

  birds eating Horseshoe crab caviar!

majority of these are semi-palmated sanpipers

Check out the video..you can get a better idea of how many Horseshoe there were.

There were hundreds of Ruddy Turnstones

Least Sandpipers

Short-billed Dowitchers  Red knots..Well this is not a real one…I still don't have a digiscoping camera…since mine stopped working… And my 20x Canon could not reach that dark spit on the right so that you could see the hundreds of red knots and other shore birds  ..if i had a working digiscoping camera..I could have shown you a hundreds of red knots!  Instead how about another Short billed DowitcherFrom left to right Short billed Dowitcher,Least Sandpiper, Willet

This photo is  great for size comparison …click on the photo.On a more serious note..you should read this about

The Plight of the Red Knot 

“Rufa red knots need about two weeks at Delaware Bay to recover from the long flight from South America and to store nutrients for the onward flight to their Arctic breeding grounds”

“horseshoe crabs were heavily overharvested as bait for the conch and eel fisheries, and this had a disastrous impact on red knots, which were unable to refuel properly”

You can help the plight of the red knot by Donating to

Delmarva Ornithological Society

If you are ever in Delaware this time of year…You must see this Amazing Eggstravaganza!

 

Check out more great birdie shots at

White Clay Creek State park, DE, Bird walk with Jeff Gordon and The Power of Twitter

Howdee all,

We went on this walk with Jeff Gordon because of The power of Twitter! and of course the generosity of Jeff!

I joined Twitter a few months ago so that I could keep up with the birds and birdie news and to check out what it was all about.

I also joined Chirptracker which is just for Birders …I thought I would just want to use Chirptracker… but, I find they both work together well.

When I use Chirptracker it will automatically update my status on Twitter.

So …..I use Chirptracker to post the birds I am seeing. I also use it ask the other birders for suggestions on where to go birding as we travel into different areas. When I chirp from Chirptracker it will Tweet on Twitter for me.

I then go to each application to see if there any responses to my questions I ask.

Two days ago, before we arrived at our next destination to bird. I put out a Chirp asking where to go ..what to see this time of year.

I had many suggestions from birders and also a nice invitation from Jeff Gordon to join a bird walk he was leading.

How cool is that!

So I suggest you try both applications and see how they work for you.

So onto our Bird walk at White Clay creek state park.

Jeff was leading a walk for the Friends of Clay Creek..

If you don't know Jeff check out his blog.  Click here..to read “About Jeff”. 

You must read his post about Two Unique guys who pick up some wild American foxes! Very Funny!

I am always amazed by birders like Jeff who can hear a faint call and know which bird it is..or see a bird fly by and know what the bird is by flight. I am getting a bit better…but have a long way to go.

Ok you bloggers who met in Virginia..notice that Jeff is still wearing his bird blogger button.. How do I get one of those?

Jeff did a great job showing us what birdies were out there and calling them closer for us to all see. He was fun, amusing and we all enjoyed our walk with him.

Thanks for inviting us Jeff. We had a great time!

We saw some great birds.Orioles,Scarlet Tanagers, Acadian Flycatchers etc...but the highlights for me was the Kentucky warbler…tee hee..it is in the below photo hiding..click on the photo and you will see it.

This bird below is a life bird for me..can you tell what it is? Sorry, it was far away and wanted to show its backside each time I took a photo..Jeff Gordon tells us this is a Gray-cheeked Thrush ... I will take Jeff's word for it.

Hard to tell the difference between this and a Bicknell's Thrush. The forest was lush and damp and my mind was thinking MORELS!I didn't see any and wouldn't have been allowed to pick any here anyway..I did see some interesting shelf type mushrooms.

There were some beautiful wildflowers. Click on the names of the flowers to learn more about them..Some are edible.

Star-of-Bethlehem Ornithogalum umbellatum May Apple Podopyhllum Peltatum Jack-in-the-Pulpit Arisaema triphyllum False Solomon's Seal Smilacina racemosa

I need some help….Does any know who these balls belong to?

Thanks for coming on our walk…See you in cyberspace!

 

Killens Pond State Park, Delaware

Howdee all,

We have arrived at Killen's Pond State Park in Delaware where we will stay for three nights. We plan on birding Bombay Hook NWR tomorrow and Saturday if it doesn't rain to hard.

Here is our new Home….very wooded…no satellite reception..so Jeff had to go to Applebee's to watch the Celtics and the Bruins. My broadband Internet is a bit slow. I don't know if..or how long.. it will take to upload this post…

Let me show you around the area……

It was quite windy today so we decided not to drive to Bombay Hook. Instead we walked around the lake here at the park.

  We are experiencing spring again ….I think we saw these wild azaleas blooming a few weeks ago in North Carolina. I love this part of traveling…we get to experience spring several times..

     We saw and heard quite a few birds…We noticed that there were many Robins..a bird that left our area of NC more than three weeks ago. There seemed to be a turf war going on with the Great Crested flycatchers today.

The Wood thrush gave us a concert..Man do I love this song..I am going to buy the album!

We walked halfway around the pond and had to walk on the road a bit..

There was a dam for the pond and lots of nesting Swallows on the concrete below the road..just over the dam.

Barn SwallowAlso at the Dam we saw this turtle hanging out on the concrete..sipping water..or eating ..I wasn't sure. I haven't had the time to ID this turtle yet..I think it is a Snapping Turtle.

Check out the video below and see for yourself..then tell me what you think the turtle is doing.. He's quite the cool looking fellow..check out his dinosaur tail. Of course this could be a female..I have no clue.

 

Eastern Kingbird hanging out in the Sun. Wish he would eat all the darn Mosquitoes.

  Oh…lovely lady slipper…my first of the year….most of them seemed be be on their last leg…no pun intended..tee hee.

Pink Lady's-slipper Cypripedium acaule Ait.

Here we go with my bark fetish…love this one..I still haven't had time to ID this…the leaves look like an oak.  I did a quick Google and decided I need to get a photo of the leaf for an ID.

Quercus ???      That just a quick recap of our walk. Mosquitoes are out…darn it….I had one tick..not attached…thank goodness… Went out and bought some spray with Deet for our clothing…

Hope to have some Birdie pictures  tomorrow..Trying out my new camera.

See ya…thanks for stopping by!