Wild Delaware

Cedar Waxwings are very interesting birds with a voracious appetite for fruit, in this case holly berries.  I watched and photographed as a flock of waxwings would swarm all over a holly tree picking and eating whole about three berries each.  Then just as quickly the flock would disappear no doubt to digest the big red berries.  In about a half hour they would swarm back and do it all again.  By the end of the day the holly tree was picked clean.  

Brown-headed cowbirds might just be the world’s worst parents. They don’t build a nest, incubate eggs or feed their babies.  What they do is lay a single egg in the nests of several different songbirds.  That egg hatches before the other eggs and the baby cowbird immediately begins to push the songbird’s eggs and babies out of the nest until it is left alone.  The “parents” continue to feed and raise the baby cowbird as their own.  You might think a red Cardinal or a Blue Jay would realize the drab young cowbird is not their offspring.  But they don’t.

Northern Gannets are incredibly beautiful oceanic birds with a giant five foot wing span. Gannets winter in Delaware and migrate north along the Atlantic coast to breed in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. There is a great opportunity to see them up-close now as they follow the Cape May Lewes Ferry feeding on fish behind the ferry. If you are a bird watcher this is one of Delaware’s great natural wonders. My recommendation is to walk-on the 4:15p.m. ferry from Lewes and return on the 6:00p.m. ferry from Cape May. Pick a sunny day - within the next month - and you will witness one of the Delaware’s best wildlife shows.

Brant were resting and feeding along the edge of the Lewes harbor this morning. This winter visitor from the Canada’s arctic tundra feeds on aquatic plants and can sometimes be found eating grass on Sussex County golf courses. Brant are much less common in Delaware than Canada and snow geese.

This morning looked like a wash-out as thick, dark clouds covered most of the horizon over the ocean. But there were a couple of small breaks in the clouds and Northern Gannets were feeding in the ocean just off Cape Henlopen State Park. Catching the gannets in the tiny strip of light was a challenge.

This morning I met a pair of Delaware’s most elusive and endangered species, the Piping Plover.  Strong winds had blown most of the water out of Lewes Harbor near the East End Light exposing sand and mud.  I found a pair of Piping Plovers scavenging for whatever they could find when one found a worm.  The second plover immediately grabbed the other end of the worm and both struggled in a tug of war for the breakfast treat. 

Usually there is a clear winner with photographs. Either the light is just right in one frame or in another there is a great moment captured. Tonight I shot three Canada goose photographs at Winterthur that I like equally well and I would like your help in picking the favorite. Please vote for your favorite here by leaving a comment. I’m looking forward to seeing which photograph wins. Thanks, Kevin

The hills at Winterthur were alive with wildlife today. Here a White-tailed deer bounds up a slope neer the steeplechase track at sunset.

A juvenile Double-crested Cormorant flaps its wings after landing this morning along the edge of a fresh water lake. Cormorants are common along Delaware’s shores.

I believe there are more than 180 species of birds spotted in Delaware so far this year and I’m working to photograph as many as possible in the next five months before Wild Delaware goes to press. Today, I’m adding a female Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse and a Blue Jay.