December 31, 2022

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 31, 2022

December 31, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Best of 2022 - A Fun Map Puzzle – There are parts of the world where political boundaries have changed a lot since my elementary school geography class. The MapPuzzle game is a fun way refresh (or relearn) countries/states/provinces.

The year in chemistry: 2022’s biggest chemistry stories – I like these summary articles…and think about which one of the stories will be the most impactful in 2023.

Top 7 Building Decarbonization Wins In 2022 – Finally….now to maintain the momentum of these ‘wins’ and more into 2023!

Ten Remarkable New Plants Discovered in 2022 – And one of them is the largest waterlily on Earth…from Bolivia.

Shrinking Pollinator Populations Could Be Killing 427,000 People Per Year – The world is losing 3-5% of its fruit, vegetable, and nut production because of shrinking pollinator populations and lower pollinator diversity. That translates into less healthy food available…and associated health conditions like diabetes and heart disease. In Honduras, Nepal and Nigeria, the pollination deficits are responsible for a reduction of 3-19% in crop yields. This highlights the importance of making changes to support pollinator populations such as limiting pesticide use, maintaining existing natural habitats, and restoring others, and planting more flowers and diverse plants.

Overlooked Gems of The National Park System – In the cold of winter…time to plan some trips to parks for the year…including a few of the overlooked gems highlighted in this article.

Snow Day in Delmarva – Reminder of the area where we enjoyed a lot of day trips while we were living in Maryland….

Stunning Satellite Images of Our Changing Planet in 2022 – The before and after pictures have different elapsed times…be sure to read the captions.

22 Photos Honoring the Triumphs and Challenges That Face Wild Cats – A collection of pictures from Panthera, the world’s leading wildcat conservation organization.

Home Depot Does a Big Energy Deal, But It Does More Behind the Scenes – The Home Depot commitment is to produce or procure 100% renewable electricity equivalent to the needs of all its facilities by 2030 and they are taking actions to make it happen. Hope more big box stores will be taking similar actions.

May 04, 2022

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

May 04, 2022/ Gwen Morrison

The Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge field trip was our second April visit to the place (I posted about our visit back in 2017: part 1, part 2). A new visitor center was under construction and the old one no longer had feeders (where we saw goldfinches last time) and the purple martin houses had been moved to another area, so we didn’t see them either. The field trip still started with a look around the visitor center grounds. It was a cool morning. There were several spring flowering trees (dogwood and redbud)…and birds flitting from the trees to the grass to the man-made structures.

We started around the auto tour route. There had been a lot of rain in the days before our field trip and the water level in the ponds was higher that I remembered. We also learned that because the area is tidal salt marsh, the water levels are not as easy to control as in some other refuges; the refuge management is challenged to maintain the marsh as sea-level is rising.

There were plenty of birds around: northern shovelers, red-winged black birds, green-winged teal, and mallards were a few I photographed.

There were relatively large numbers of great blue herons. They don’t nest at the refuge but come here for food.

There were also great and snowy egrets in mixed groups.

I took a sequence of a great egret landing.

There were bald eagles too. I photographed a scruffy looking juvenile settling on an almost submerged log.

The big surprise of the morning was a roost of black-crowned night herons. From the place we were standing…they were on the other side of large pond; they looked like fuzzy places in the trees…

I thought tent caterpillars at first! With binoculars and big camera lens, the birds were easy to identify. My husband provided a magnified/cropped image of one of the birds. There were over 70 birds roosting!

What a thrilling finale for a Bombay Hook field trip!

February 11, 2020

Newport Farm Birding

February 11, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Our last morning of the Winter Delmarva Birding Weekend was at Newport Farm – a privately owned area near Ocean City with lots of conserved and managed wetlands. We gathered outside the gate along the road before carpooling into the farm building area.

In one if the first ponds, we saw Tundra Swans and Brant. Both species breed much furthers north and are only around in winter along the Maryland coast.

Soon after we saw them, the swans took off for their day of foraging elsewhere.

There were American White Pelicans on one of the ponds as well. I managed to catch one of them getting breakfast. This is another bird that is only in the area during the winter.

At the end of a road with water on the sides – a fox looked out over a meadow, then noticed us. It seemed torn about which way to go….started back toward us then ran into the trees before it got close to our group. These pictures were at about the maximum of my camera’s zoom capability!

Two Great Blue Herons were at the edge of one of the ponds. Maybe they have a nest nearby….eggs will be laid soon.

There were lots of plants that still held berries and seeds for wildlife.

The clouds were thick enough that the morning never got very bright.

Maybe the pelicans were enjoying a relaxing morning…not being very active. I photographed a group where only one seemed to be very awake…and keen to swallow breakfast that must have been in his pouch…tilting the head back, the pouch upright.

And that was the last of the 3-day weekend of birding close to the Atlantic coast of Delaware and Maryland.

February 07, 2020

Charles W. Cullen Bridge and Indian River Inlet

February 07, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Saturday morning of the Winter Delmarva Birding Weekend was wet and windy. We had seen the Charles W. Cullen Bridge in the dark as we headed to our hotel on Friday evening. The sky and the lights on the bridge were dramatic.

The next morning, we were at the bridge again. It was the location of our field trip!

Unfortunately, it was raining and blustery. I discovered that a rain poncho is problematic in windy conditions. I learned to lean against part of the bridge or pavilion structure to hold the poncho down so I could use my binoculars…and take a few pictures (bufflehead in the distance and a gull…the bridge and walk beside the inlet). I was more successful with the binoculars: Razorbills riding the swift moving water (the tide coming in during heavy rain) and a Northern Gannet flying through under the bridge and looping around in the air. The trip ended early because the next part of the trip was planned for open areas (no shelter from the heavy rain and wind).

On Sunday morning, we left our hotel early to get to our field trip by 8….crossing the bridge again. It was dark much like our experience on Friday evening, but the texture of the clouds is more noticeable…and the lights were missing.

February 06, 2020

Assateague Island Visitor Center

February 06, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Our first Delmarva Birding field trip was on the last Friday in January. We parked at the Assateague Island Visitor Center near Berlin, Maryland. It was cold and windy; there had been mist as we were driving but it was dry for the afternoon. They had large table maps of Assateague Island at the visitor center; we’d been to the Tom’s Cove end of the Island (when we went to Chincoteague, Virginia) but had never been to the northern part of the island.

After the group gathered, we headed off toward the Verrazano Bridge which has a nice walk/bike path on a separate span than the car traffic.

Before we got to the bridge we saw a Mockingbird and then a cluster of Greater Black-backed Gulls as we started up the ramp of the bridge.

2020 01 IMG_7485 (11).jpg — Once on the bridge, there was a lot to see in the water underneath. I managed to photograph a few birds. There were a pair of Horned Grebe (non-breeding plumage) and then I got another as a silhouette in the glints of sunlight.

A Red-Breasted Merganser (male) was below as well.

The Bufflehead were numerous but diving a lot. I managed a few pictures…but they were mostly blurs or butts.

We headed back to the visitor center and then on the trail toward the Rackliffe Plantation House. A Great Blue Heron was feeding in the wetland grasses.

I couldn’t resist a few botanical photos – a pinecone with sun glint needles in the background and a twig with some very curly lichen.

A flock of Brant (a small goose) were avoiding the golfers on the course.

They would fly up occasionally…move a short distance…settle down again.

Then there were some Eastern Bluebirds that flew into some trees near our group…kept a wary eye on us.

We then hiked back to the visitor center and caravaned around toward the entrance to Rum Point Seaside Golf Links. The ponds had Ring-necked Ducks (and mallard and black ducks).

A Great Egret was searching for food nearby.

There were also some Canada Geese in a field. I am including a picture here to compare with the Brant. The Brant are smaller but they are both geese so have a similar look.

And then the Canada Geese took off…and it was the ending time for the field trip anyway!

February 05, 2020

Road Trip to the Eastern Shore

February 05, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

2002 01 IMG_7292.jpg — My husband and I signed up for the field trips offered by Delmarva Birding the last weekend of January. The first one was on Friday afternoon, so we finished packing and left after the morning rush hour. I was still up early enough to see the sunrise. There were enough clouds to hold the light.

The clouds had thickened by the time we left. By the time we got to the Bay Bridge, the water and sky were very gray. The bridge going from east to west is being renovated…I took a picture as we crossed the other span….intending to take more on the way home.

Our first ‘birding’ happened on the road. As we drove near Bridgeville, Delaware - a flock of snow geese flew up from a field. I took a picture as we drove past. That field was the only one we saw with a flock of birds like that. Maybe more grain had been spilled in that field?

The Sunday afternoon, as we were driving back, was cloudy again. The view of the part of the bridge under active construction showed a lot of barriers to catch debris, concrete barriers closing off one lane…and scaffolding.

The view of the other side of the bridge is the same ad usual…the Bay Bridge is an awesome bridge. The traffic was moving smoothly both times we crossed the bridge; I don’t want to be making this drive during the warmer months when the construction with make the traffic more challenging than past summers.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts about our Winter Delmarva Birding Weekend!

October 13, 2019

Trip to Smith Island – Part II

October 13, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

Continuing the post about our trip to Smith Island, MD last weekend….

Brown Pelicans were the big bird show of the trip. I managed to get some birds in flight as herring and mackerel were thrown off the back of the boat and the birds flew in to get the fish before it sank below the water’s surface.

I took a series of pictures of a pelican flying away after getting a fish…and landing on the water…feet spread out.

There was another bird – close to the boat that took off from the water – a strong stroke of its wings as it raised the legs and then the big wings fully extended as it gained altitude over the water.

The pelicans use the man-made structures in or near the water like pilings,

Or partially collapsed buildings,

Or jetties. Other birds like cormorants and gulls also enjoy the same structures. But the pelicans were the numerous and the biggest. There were lots of juveniles…the pelican rookery had a good year.

October 11, 2019

Trip to Smith Island – Part I

October 11, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

2019 10 IMG_0901.jpg — Last weekend, we took a day trip to Smith Island arranged by Delmarva Birding. We departed from Somers Cove Marina in Crisfeld, MD about 8 AM.

2019 10 IMG_0721.jpg — The day was sunny a very breezy. The temperature was chilly enough that we appreciated the plastic that blocked the wind for us while we were on the boat crossing Tangier Sound toward Ewell. We past Glenn Martin National Wildlife Refuge along the way…lots of pelicans and cormorants.

Goat Island is across from Ewell…and the goat seem interested in boats coming into the marina.

We browsed the Smith Island Cultural Center then walked down Smith Island Road to look at birds in the wetlands there. There were small birds which I didn’t manage to photograph and ducks that were far enough away that they were silhouettes. A Great Egret was close to the road we were walking down.

So was a Tricolored Heron. The bird must have been in one of its favorite spots for fishing since it ignored our group and continued its activity.

Back on the boat we headed around to Tylerton where we had lunch (island made crab cakes and Smith Island Cake) at Drum Point Market. The bathroom had black-eye-susans painted on the walls!

We walked around afterwards seeing the stained-glass windows of the church, heron shutters, and the ‘welcome’ painted on a building.

Several houses had pomegranates as part of their landscaping.

Then we were back on the boat…and more birding. There was a group of Double-crested Cormorants with one in the center…wings spread. I couldn’t resist taking slightly different angles of the birds clustered around that one!