Birding the Delmarva Peninsula

Fri, November 18, 7:00 am – Sun, November 20, 2011, 4:00 pm
Dealware, Maryland and Virginia

Trip Report

I was invited to join the Lancaster Bird Club on a weekend (November 18-20,2011) birding trip to the Delmarva peninsula. Our first stop was the Ashland Hawk Watch in northern Delaware. In addition to the hawkwatch, there were trails and a nature center with feeders. Highlights included Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, Cedar Waxwing and Brown Creeper.

Our second stop was Cape Henelopen State Park, featuring another hawkwatch, trails and a gift shop with feeders. This is a wonderful park with lots of birds. Unlike Pennsylvania, Delaware charges to enter its parks ($8/ car for out of state). Highlights included Brown-headed Nuthatch(the rubber ducky bird due to it squeaky voice), Sharp-shinned Hawk,Red-throated Loon, Sanderling, Forster's Tern, Great Black-backed Gull, Snow Goose (about 1000), all three scoters, Northern Gannet, Common Loon, Lesser black-backed Gull, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Harrier and Hermit Thrush.

We then moved on to Indian River Inlet (also in Delaware). Highlights included Common Merganser, Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Lesser Scaup, Brant (about 300), Greater Yellowlegs, Black Duck and Pied-billed Grebe.

As the sun was setting we arrived at Ocean City Inlet in Maryland. There the highlights were Ruddy Turnstone, Purple Sandpiper and Peregrine Falcon.

On November 19th (Saturday) we spent the entire day at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. We birded all day with a brief stop for a picnic lunch and I tallied 79 species of birds for the day. Highlights included Lesser Yellowlegs, Boat-tailed Grackle, Common Loon, Greater Yellowlegs, Marbled Godwit, American Oystercatcher, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Black-bellied Plover,Tri-colored Heron, Little Blue Heron, Common Tern, Forster's Tern, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Hooded Merganser, Northern Shoveler, Eastern Screech Owl, Black-and-white Warbler, Fox Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Hermit Thrush, Winter Wren, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Cooper's Hawk, Dunlin, Tundra Swan, White Ibis, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Laughing Gull, Northern Pintail, Savannah Sparrow, Tree Swallow and Simi-palmated Plover.

On November 20th some of us got up early and started birding at 6:30 AM to look for rails. We were successful, hearing four Clapper Rails and seeing one. After breakfast we went to good sparrow habitat and were rewarded with a Seaside Sparrow.

We then drove to Shad Landing in Maryland where we added Chipping Sparrow, American Kestrel and Pileated Woodpecker.

Our next stop was Shelbyville Delaware to look for Eurasian Collared Dove. The doves eluded us. Next we revisited Indian River Inlet where we added Great Cormorant and Bonaparte's Gull.

Our final birding destination was Bombay Hook (in Delaware). Our highlights were White-crowned Sparrow, American Avocet, Marbled Godwit, Black-necked Stilt, Long-billed Dowitcher, Snow Goose (about 2,000), Western Sandpiper, Dunlin, Eastern Phoebe, Northern Harrier, Bald Eagle and Ring-necked Duck.

We had good weather all three days and I tallied 125 species for the trip.

Submitted by Richard Nugent

If you participated in this trip, you may add an outing report.