Wild Delaware

Winter wheat hangs from the mouth of a snow goose grazing in a snow covered field near Lewes this morning.

Two snow geese have a chat this morning on a snow covered field near Lewes.

A red fox is dwarphed by cattails as it hunts along the edge of a Sussex County salt marsh today at sunrise.

Winter visitor or Delaware resident, it is hard to tell with Canada geese now. Just decades ago large flocks of Canada geese flying in a V-formation would announce the arrival of autumn. Now, Delaware has a large number of resident geese that live here year-round.

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and the salt marsh is now suddenly alive with Red-winged Blackbirds and the sounds of their love songs as they begin to seek a mate. This amorous adult male ruffled his wings and trilled his quavering call every few seconds just after sunrise.

It snowed today in Delaware but this isn’t that storm. Here, a pair of Canada geese cruise up Brandywine Creek during a previous snowstorm. An assignment kept me from shooting wildlife today so I wanted to share this snowstorm with you.

Strong gale-force winds blow tons of stinging sand across the low dunes of Cape Henlopen this afternoon near sunset. A photograph cannot capture the power of nature today as the powerful, unrelenting winds blasted the cape. In the background, the Delaware Breakwater East End Light stands tall against the winds as it has since 1885.

Dunlin were working the mudflats of the salt marsh again this morning with the flock twisting and turning as one. These Robin-size birds feed by probing mud and shallow water.

Someone asked, “Why do you photograph so many snow geese?” The simple answer is because they are here now. In two months, they will all migrate back to Canada’s tundra. Only about five of these snow goose photographs will make the final edit for my new book Wild Delaware.

Sunrise was spectacular this morning with a thin layer of broken clouds creating a beacon of light. Nearby, a great blue heron watched a flock of snow geese pass overhead.