Wild Delmarva

Finally a clear morning today in Delaware and these two Great Blue Herons were there to watch the sunrise.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

My dad told me about a colony of Royal Terns that he has been shooting for a few weeks. This morning I paddled my kayak to the same island and found the birds busy feeding their young.

Photograph by Jay Fleming

By the end of the summer these Great Egret and Great Blue Heron chicks will look very similar to the adults, but until then they will have to grow into their beauty.

Photographs by Jay Fleming

Did you know Belted Kingfishers nest in the ground? Oddly enough, construction projects like road building that usually dooms wildlife habitat creates nesting sites for Kingfishers. They like to burrow into dirt banks near water. So, when gravel pits are dug for construction projects or dirt is piled in mounds new possible kingfisher nesting sites are created. Their tunnels rise upward from the entrance and may be anywhere from one to eight feet deep.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

It looks like the Barn Swallow perched on the phragmites is warning the incoming bird to keep away from his spot. But you would have to be a Barn Swallow to know what sort of social or antisocial behavior is happening here. There wasn’t room for both on the delicate perch and neither bird ended up with the spot. Barn Swallows are the most abundant swallows in the world. They breed here on Delmarva and throughout the northern hemisphere and many winter in the southern hemisphere.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Using its more than 50 inch wingspan for balance, a Great Egret stands precariously atop a bush in a Delmarva heron rookery. This beautiful bird is the symbol of the National Audubon Society, one of the first environmental organizations in America. In fact, the Audubon Society was founded to help protect birds from being killed for their feathers.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

A Laughing Gull lets out its raucous kee-agh call while sitting on a nest. These gulls nest in large colonies in the tidal marshes of Delmarva.

photograph by Jay Fleming

photographs by Jay Fleming

photograph by Jay Fleming

Sanderlings (above)

Ruddy Turnstone (above)

Shorebirds of different kinds gather along the beaches and tidal flats of Indian River Bay to feed on Horseshoe Crab eggs. While the spring mating season for Horseshoe Crabs in Delaware Bay is mostly over there are still some crabs mating there as well as Indian River Bay, Assawoman Bay and Sinepuxent Bay by Ocean City, Maryland.

Photographs by Jay Fleming