Wild Delmarva

The salt marsh was covered with purple blooms at sunrise today and Great Egrets were moving around early looking for the best fishing spots.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

photograph by Jay Fleming

Two White-tailed deer pause on a hillside.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

photograph by Jay Fleming

A Green Heron squawks just after sunrise.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Two young White-tailed Deer bucks watch twilight from atop a ridge.

It is deer season now and the big bucks like this one I photographed last night at Winterthur near Wilmington seem a little nervous.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Fiddler Crabs are semi-terrestrial crustaceans found throughout the world in a wide range of marine environments. On the Delmarva Peninsula fiddler crabs are found in salt marshes, inhabiting the tidal zone between mean high tide and mean low tide. Male fiddler crabs have an over sized white claw used in courtship rituals and combat. Both male and female crabs posses smaller claws which are used for sifting through sediment for decaying detritus, algae, and other delicious treats.

photograph by Jay Fleming

For the next five weeks I will be in Turkey so I will not have any new images from Delmarva Peninsula to post. I have gone through my archives and found different images that were shot earlier this year that I had not put on Wild Delmarva. I will continue to post these until I am back to shoot new photographs.

Here a mating pair of American Oystercatchers keeps a close eye over their nesting territory.

photograph by Jay Fleming

Feeding along the edge of the Delaware Bay can be a challenging situation sometimes if you are a Willet. When you are only about 16 inches long even a small wave breaking on the shore can be a big problem.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming