Wild Delmarva

A skull is about all that’s left of this female Minke Whale that died along the Delmarva coast a year ago. While they may sound large – up to 38 feet long and as much as 13 tons when fully grown – Minkes are our smallest whales off the peninsula.

A year ago this month Delaware’s first ever Roseate Spoonbill landed on Fenwick Island. Birdwatchers came from far and wide to witness this southern bird that is much more at home in Florida and along the Gulf Coast. I was lucky enough to get close to this rare pink bird and will be including this image in Wild Delmarva.

Wild Delmarva is now in the layout and design process and will go to the printer in just over two weeks. Wild Delmarva will be released the first week of November and if you have signed up with our pre-publication special you will be one of the first to see the new book.

We are going to be using the best of the best photographs shot over the past year and a half. I’ll be sharing a new image from the book here every day until Wild Delmarva arrives. This adolescent Great Blue Heron having a “bad hair day” is one of my favorite images and will be on the back cover of Wild Delmarva.

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Thanks, Kevin Fleming

Here’s a creature with an identity crisis. Some might think this unusual insect is a hummingbird as it flies, hovers and its wings hum just like a hummingbird. Then there is the issue that it looks like a Bumblebee. But it neither a bird or a bee but it is a Hummingbird Moth a.k.a. Bumblebee Moth. Like many moths they have a very long tongue they use to gather the nectar of long-necked flowers.

Seeing this beautiful butter-colored Eastern Tiger Swallowtail flutter by a butterfly bush yesterday made me wonder about the origin of the name butterfly. It certainly looked like butter flying! These colorful butterflies are common on the Delmarva Peninsula in the summer and females like this one can be in either yellow or black forms.

Many of this year’s young Osprey on the Delmarva Peninsula have already fledged and this young bird will be able to fly any day now. Young Osprey have darker eyes than adults.

With the wind blowing from behind early this morning, an Osprey looks like it is having a bad feather day as the wind ruffles the feathers.

Double-crested Cormorant siblings have a discussion early this morning.

A Tricolored Heron, formerly known as the Louisiana Heron, comes in for a landing in a rookery shared with Great Egrets yesterday morning. More common in the southeastern U.S., I’m always happy to find these medium-sized, slender herons on Delmarva as they are here in smaller numbers than many other herons and egrets.

This rather large, wide-open mouth is the last thing many fish see. Double-crested Cormorants are diving birds that catch fish underwater. In fact, the cormorant is such a successful fisherman it is often blamed for declines in fisheries.