Wild Delaware

Young river otters usually begin exploring their world at about two months old and are able to fend for themselves in another three or four months. Crabs, crawfish, amphibians, reptiles and sometimes birds are on the menu but fish are their favorite. In Delaware, river otters can be found living in and along the shores of lakes, ponds and, of course, rivers.

It is great to learn people really care about wildlife in Delaware and that so many are following my year-long journey to create Wild Delaware. I would like to share a comment from yesterday. Thanks!

“Please let Kevin know that he gives a great deal of pleasure to people faraway who just appreciate his artistry and the beautiful figures of nature that he captures without harm to them. How often the small things are really the BIG things in life! Thanks.” E. G. Connecticut

Camouflage means obscuring or hiding things to deceive an enemy. Many animals and insects have very elaborate ways to camouflage themselves. The American Bittern has a rather simple but effective camouflage. When threatened, they raise their head so their bill and striped chest look like reeds in a marsh. If you don’t spot them before they hide you will likely not see them at all.

It is mid-May and opossum babies like this handsome guy have outgrown their mother’s pouch. Opossums are marsupials meaning they begin life in in a marsupium (a pouch) that has the mother’s mammary glands and offers a warm shelter for tiny, newborn babies. Our Delaware ‘possums are related to kangaroos, wombats and bandicoots.

Here’s a reminder that signed and framed prints from Wild Delaware are on exhibit at the Rehoboth Art League for the month of May. If you are in the area I hope you can stop by!  Thanks, Kevin

Between photographing close-ups of birds yesterday at White Clay Creek State Park (see images below) I looked a little closer at life on a leaf and found this crane fly and tiny spider living in a very green world.

Like low-digit Delaware license plates, there will only be 1,000 signed and numbered copies of Wild Delaware. Publication is this November but if you order now you will receive a signed and numbered copy of Wild Delaware plus two free signed lithographs plus free shipping. Just click Order Wild Delaware Online! (above) for the pre-publication special.

White Clay Creek State Park near Newark was alive today with a mix of resident birds and migrating birds moving toward the northern states and Canada. Many of the migrating birds will be gone in the next few days and they will be followed by others heading north. I hope to get back into the forest along the banks of White Clay Creek several more times over the next two weeks to catch some of the transients as they pass through.

Kentucky Warbler

Acadian Flycatcher

Canada Warbler

Gray Catbird

Northern Waterthrush

Red-eyed Vireo

Veery

Barn swallows prefer to nest on man-made structures and this one lives under a bridge adjacent to Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Hopefully his nest survived yesterday storm tide raging under the bridge.

It is impossible to imagine the devastation to wildlife by yesterday’s coastal storm that battered Delaware with wind gusts up to 56 mph, torrential rains and severe flooding along inland bays and wetlands. This morning I found a grackle gathering material to rebuild its nest that was destroyed by the storm.