Ruddy Turnstones
On our second day out around Del Marva, we continued birding in the Delaware area working our way towards Maryland with the objective of heading to Virginia. Our morning highlights in Delaware included, the endangered Red Knots, - small number...much less than I expected. I have actually documented more Red-Knots at Jamaica Bay this spring than I saw in Delaware. Maybe it all had to do with timing on when we were in Delaware...I hope that is what it was.
Seaside Sparrow
Seaside Sparrows - quite the opposite of the Red-Knots were everywhere in the Port Mahon area. I thoroughly enjoyed listening and seeing them. There were lots of shorebirds, but not much in diversity. The shorebirds were dominated by Ruddy Turnstones and Dunlins. Other highlights at Port Mahon included, Black-necked Stilts, Caspian Terns, and two first summer Lesser Black Backed Gulls.We continued birding on the way out from Delaware into Maryland. In the early afternoon in Maryland, we had Gannets, Royal Terns, Purple Sandpipers and a nice pickup for the trip in Common Eiders. We tried for a Marbled Godwit that was reported around an area we had to drive by, but did not locate the bird.
White Ibis
Later on we added White Ibis, spotted from the causeway as we entered Chincoteague VA. After checking into our hotel in VA, we had cocktails on the deck and listened to Clapper Rails, while doing our day list tally. Then it was dinner, more cocktails and planning for day III.Tags:
Delmarva Peninsula, 
Seaside Sparrow, 
White Ibis, 
Black-necked Stilt
The number of Red Knots depends on timing but also on where you go. Port Mahon is usually reliable for a few, but the big numbers in Delaware are usually closer to the mouth of the bay at Mispillion. There you might get a few thousand vs. the dozen or less at Port Mahon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback John - it was not only Port Mahon that we we noticed the numbers seemed low. We also checked in at DuPont Center and Slaughter Beach and there the numbers were low as well. I look forward to seeing thousands of Red Knots the next time I am in Delaware.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful images as always! Looking forward to hearing about your time on Chincoteague.
ReplyDelete-Mike
@noflickster - Hi Mike, Chincoteague was a lot of fun. There are moments that will not make the reports after all what happens in Chincoteague stays in Chincoteague ;)
ReplyDelete