Wild Delmarva

About 12,000 Red Knots were feeding on Horseshoe Crab eggs today along the Delaware Bay. This one was actually feeding inside a dead Horseshoe Crab when a wave blasted some Delaware Bay mud into the air. Along with the Red Knots some 15,000 Rudy Turnstones and thousands of Semi-palmated Sandpipers, Willits and assorted shorebirds and gulls turned out for the protein feeding frenzy.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Horseshoe Crab breeding season is coming into full swing now and following these ancient mariners are the shorebirds that feed on their eggs. Here, a Ruddy Turnstone feeding along the edge of the Delaware Bay gets hit by a wave of mud at high tide yesterday.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Once commonly called the Golden Swamp Warbler, the brilliant yellow of the Prothonotary Warbler reminded an early naturalist of the bright yellow robes worn by prothonotaries – high ranking papal clerks who deal with pontifical acts and canonizations – and he passed the more regal name to this colorful bird.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Despite essentially being the color of a flame and fairly common on Delmarva, Scarlet Tanagers are often hard to see and find because of their secretive behavior and their preference for the forest canopy. With the sharp ear and eye of bird expert (and my Wild Delaware book collaborator) Jeffery A. Gordon we were able to get close to one in a Sussex County pine forest yesterday.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

With the generous assistance of Delaware’s own bird expert and avian author Jeffrey A. Gordon I was able to get close to this beautiful female Prairie Warbler in a Sussex County, Delaware second-growth pine forest. Prairie Warbler in Delaware, you ask? Contrary to its name this bird actually lives in scrubby areas of the eastern United States.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Jay and I went to a heron and egret rookery before sunrise today. Our day started at 4:00 a.m. with a truck ride to the ramp and then a boat ride to the rookery. That’s me waiting for a sunrise that never happened this morning because of a thick, giant cloud lurking over the coast. But, even with bad light, going to work in this “office” is a very good thing.

It is still early in the Horseshoe Crab breeding season and the Red Knots are arriving now along the Delaware Bay coast to feast on the protein-rich eggs. Watch for photographs of Delaware’s biggest natural wonder coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Photograph by Jay Fleming

A Great Blue Heron comes in for a landing at its nest this morning before sunrise. The sky was clear overhead but a thick, low cloud clung to the horizon blocking the sunrise light. The best light today was about a half hour before sunrise.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

The late afternoon is playtime for the fox kits I have been photographing. Some of their time is spent exploring, much time is spent napping and sometimes you can catch them playing.

Photographs by Kevin Fleming

Their super-sized bill earned this beautiful bird the rather unattractive name “grosbeak.” Previously seen only in the South, Blue Grosbeaks have expanded their range northward to include Delmarva. Often confused with the more common Indigo Bunting, just check for the massive grasshopper-chomping bill and you will remember the name grosbeak.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

With its tail feathers spread like a fan for balance a Field Sparrow perches on a weed. The distinctive trill of this sparrow is a common sound around Delmarva’s shrubby fields.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming