Wild Delmarva

Red Knots are perhaps our most widely travelled migrants. After a marathon flight from as far as Tierra del Fuego – the southern tip of South America – Red Knots flock to the Delaware Bay shores every May to feast on Horseshoe Crab eggs before continuing their journey to breed in the Arctic. Their Delaware visit is winding down now as most have already departed for the north.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

A pair of Great Blue Herons and their chicks more than fill their stick-built nest. This is prime time for nesting birds and when the skies clear I will be able to photograph more rookeries with a wide variety of birds.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Four mature Herring Gulls all call at once as another gull landed in their nesting colony. Herring Gulls are common here on Delmarva and across much of North America.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

It would be impossible for me to estimate how many Brown Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants were crammed onto this Chesapeake Bay island colony yesterday. Certainly, there are several thousand. Nesting season is in full swing now and these flying dinosaur-looking birds and their nests fill the available space. Cormorant nests are interspersed throughout the rookery and their dark chicks contrast with the lighter-colored young pelicans. Chicks are in various stages of development from just hatched to almost fledged. With such close quarters, fights break out when one comes too close to another’s nest.

Photographs by Kevin Fleming

A very young – perhaps about a day-old – Great Black-backed Gull chick looks like it is encouraging its sibling who is pipping out of its shell in a nesting colony earlier today. The world’s largest gull, Great Black-backed Gulls stay close to their nest for about two months and they return to their nesting area to rest and to be fed for about another 50 days.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming