RBA
* Delaware
* Statewide
* September 8, 2006
* DEST0609.08
*Birds mentioned
Green-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Black Scoter
Surf Scoter
Common Merganser
Leach's Storm-Petrel
Brown Pelican
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
American Avocet
Hudsonian Godwit
Lesser Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
White-rumped Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope
Wilson's Phalarope
Parasitic Jaeger
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Least Tern
Roseate Tern
Black Tern
Black Skimmer
Common Nighthawk
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo
Pileated Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Philadelphia Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Golden-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Mourning Warbler
Canada Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Savannah Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
- Transcript
Hotline: Birdline Delaware
Date: September 8, 2006
Number: 302/658-2747
To Report: Armas Hill, 302/529-1876 (VOICE)
302/529-1085 (FAX)
Compiler: Andy Ednie (ednieap@wittnet.com)
Coverage: Delaware, Delmarva Peninsula, nearby Delaware Valley, Southern
New Jersey, Maryland
Transcriber: Andy Ednie (ednieap@wittnet.com)
For Friday, September 8th, this is Birdline Delaware, from the Delaware
Museum of Natural History in Greenville. I'm Andy Ednie, glad to be back.
Armas Hill is away this week.
Last weekend, Delaware was deluged by Tropical Storm Ernesto. Rainfall
varied from 1.85 inches in Wilmington to 4 inches in Georgetown. Some of the
birds brought by the storm included a LEACH'S STORM-PETREL, PARASITIC
JAEGERS, and ROSEATE TERNS off the point at Cape Henlopen State Park found
by Jeff and Liz Gordon, RED-NECKED and WILSON'S PHALAROPES and over 70
BLACK TERNS at Prime Hook found by Ed Sigda.
Other birds in the area included a huge fallout of JAEGERS at the Concrete
Ship from Sunset Beach in Cape May, all 3 species including 27 POMARINE, 9
PARASITIC, and 3 LONG-TAILS. Also seen were BRIDLED, SOOTY, and BLACK TERN.
On the Delaware River, behind the Philadelphia Airport, there was an
incredible number of pelagic species seen, including, SOOTY, SANDWICH, and
ARCTIC TERN, RED and RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, WILSON'S STORM-PETREL, and SABINE'S
GULLS.
The only interesting bird I found was a PECTORAL SANDPIPER with 35 LESSER
YELLOWLEGS in the field by the entrance to Fox Point State Park in
Wilmington.
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER and AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER were also seen in the
plowed fields behind Fowler's Beach. And, 2 BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS were seen at
Broadkill Beach.
BAIRD'S SANDPIPER and a half dozen AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS were seen
yesterday at the Wick's Potato Farm, along Rt 9, just south of the entrance
to Bombay Hook and before the bridge to Leipsic. Also in that field were 125
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, 250 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, KILLDEER, 13 PECTORAL
SANDPIPERS, SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, and 7 CASPIAN TERNS.
The storm flooded several roadways in Delaware, at Broadkill Beach, Woodland
Beach and below Dobbinsville. The roadway was almost completely washed away
at Port Mahon. The riprap that had been placed to protect the road was
sitting on top of the macadam. Port Mahon Road was closed today for the
ongoing repairs, but should be back open by this weekend.
Some good birds at White Clay Creek this week included a PHILADELPHIA VIREO
and a YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER on Wednesday, and a GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER at
the Wedgewood parking lot yesterday. The GOLDEN-WINGED was reported to be a
drab female, but who cares; it's still a GOLDEN-WING!
Warblers at White Clay this week included BLUE-WINGED, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE,
PARULA, CHESTNUT-SIDED, MAGNOLIA, BLACK-THROATED GREEN, BLACK-THROATED BLUE,
BAY-BREASTED, BLACKBURNIAN, and NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH. The first SWAINSON'S
THRUSH of the season was reported at White Clay yesterday. VEERY,
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, and YELLOW-THROATED VIREO were also reported.
This has been an exceptional fall season to see CUCKOOS, 15 YELLOW-BILLS and
2 BLACK-BILLS were reported at White Clay on Wednesday. A BLACK-BILLED and 6
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOOS were also seen this morning at Brandywine Creek State
Park.
Today at Brandywine Creek, a female MOURNING WARBLER was reported at the
edge of the Freshwater Marsh Preserve. Other birds at Brandywine Creek
included a LEAST FLYCATCHER at the north end of the Freshwater Marsh, a
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER was found at the north end of the park, off Ramsey
Rd., and PILEATED WOODPECKERS were seen Sunday, along the east bank. A total
of 18 species of WARBLERS were reported including: BLUE-WINGED, NASHVILLE,
TENNESSEE, PARULA, MAGNOLIA, CHESTNUT-SIDED, BLACK-THROATED GREEN,
BLACK-THROATED BLUE, BLACKBURNIAN, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, WORM-EATING,
OVENBIRD, CANADA, and WILSON'S.
A YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER was also seen on Monday, behind Hoopes'
Reservoir from Hillside Mill Rd. along with BALTIMORE ORIOLES and 8 species
of warbler including NASHVILLE'S and PINE.
There were several good flights of COMMON NIGHTHAWK last week. 21 were
counted at the hawkwatch at Brandywine Creek State Park on Tuesday. Several
were seen Monday evening at Cape Henlopen State Park, at The Point and over
the Walking Dunes. On a sad note, one COMMON NIGHTHAWK was found dead on the
road at the entrance to A.I. duPont Children's Hospital on Sunday.
BLACK and SURF SCOTER were reported this week at Cape Henlopen State Park.
One BLACK SCOTER was seen on flying over Delaware Bay from Broadkill Beach
during the storm on Saturday. BLACK SKIMMERS were seen at The Point at Cape
Henlopen State Park. 24 were counted from the parking lot on Monday, along
with 7 BROWN PELICANS flying by. BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCHES were reported at
Gordon's Pond and at the marina in Henlopen Acres. 2 PRAIRIE WARBLERS were
also reported at Gordon's pond.
There have been several reports of BALD EAGLES this week. 2 were seen flying
over Rt. 1 at the junction with Rt. 10 in south Dover on Monday. Another
immature eagle was seen flying over Prime Hook Beach Rd. An adult was seen
flying over Claymont on Tuesday. 4 adults were over the marsh at Bombay Hook
yesterday, along with OSPREY, NORTHERN HARRIER, MERLIN, and PEREGRINE
FALCON.
One of the premier shorebird spots in Delaware right now is Raymond Pool at
Bombay Hook. There are over 350 AMERICAN AVOCETS there. Also reported has
been 4 HUDSONIAN GODWITS there last weekend, and 2 WILSON'S PHALAROPES on
Wednesday. The first DUNLIN of the season, still with a black belly, was
seen there on Saturday. Puddle ducks are also starting to return, PINTAIL,
SHOVELER, and GREEN-WINGED TEALS were there in good numbers. A COMMON
MERGANSER was reported in the marsh opposite Shearness Pool last weekend.
Good numbers of juvenile SANDERLING were found along the bayshore at the
Logan Lane Tract of the Ted Harvey Conservation Area yesterday. Hopefully,
that's a sign of a successful breeding season in the arctic this summer.
Maybe if we let the birds feed in Delaware before they fly north, then they'll
have more energy to reproduce when they get there. RUDDY TURNSTONE,
WHITE-RUMPED and STILT SANDPIPERS were also along the bay at the Logan
Tract. A single SAVANNAH SPARROW was also found there along the dike road,
the first of the season.
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER, along with LEAST, CASPIAN, and ROYAL TERNS were seen
at Mispillion Inlet this week.
Now for this week's special feature from 1450 WILM News Radio. You can hear
the special feature, with sound effects, on Wednesdays at 5:55 and 8:55am
and again at 6:55 pm.
Birds are given their names by a special committee of the scientists under
the direction of the American Ornithological Union. But, many of our birds
here in the United States were given their names by the European settlers.
They often named birds from what they were use to seeing in Europe. Our
AMERICAN ROBIN was named after the EUROPEAN ROBIN. Both have brick red
breasts, but other then that they are not even related. The EUROPEAN ORIOLE
is completely different from the BALTIMORE ORIOLE, although they both have
some yellow color.
Birds also receive colloquial names from laypeople. Delaware is home to
hundreds of long-legged waders. The heron colony at Pea Patch Island is the
largest heronry north of Florida. When Europeans, Swedish, Dutch, and then
English, first saw these birds, they were given typical rural names, like
angel-cranes, Johnny gray-legs, reedbird, and squawk. But, one name that
has fascinated me is the shypoke. What is a shypoke and how did it get its
name?
Shypoke is a name used to describe the GREEN HERON. This is a common summer
bird in Delaware, in our marshes, ponds, a stream bottoms. Only about 12
inches tall, they have an olive-green back, reddish breast and streaked
belly. In flight, they dangle their bright yellow legs behind them. GREEN
HERONS are strong flyers. After nesting, their post-breeding dispersal has
taken them as far as England and France.
GREEN HERONS are also one of the few tool using birds. They will hunt prey
along a riverbank by dangling feathers, twigs, or even insects to lure fish
to the surface. Their secretive manner of luring and then jabbing their prey
could be how they got their name.
But, another reason comes from Jim Rising, Ornithologist at the Royal
Ontario Museum in Toronto. Jim grew up in Missouri, where the local
hillybillies say the word Shypoke comes from the German vernacular. GREEN
HERONS also have an interesting way of escape. When frightened, they'll
squawk (Green Heron SFx), and then defecate as they fly away. Poke is a
term for bag. Shy is actually a corruption of the German word Schite. Put
them together and you have.oh well, let's not go there.
Anyway, now is good time to see GREEN HERONS along our streams and waterways
here in Delaware.
I'll be back here next week and would appreciate your reports. Please call
302-792-9591 or email me at ednieap@fcc.net. My thanks to Dave Hallenback,
Mike Smith, and Uday Kumar for their reports. I'm Andy Ednie, good birding.
-end transcript
* Delaware
* Statewide
* September 8, 2006
* DEST0609.08
*Birds mentioned
Green-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Black Scoter
Surf Scoter
Common Merganser
Leach's Storm-Petrel
Brown Pelican
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
American Avocet
Hudsonian Godwit
Lesser Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
White-rumped Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope
Wilson's Phalarope
Parasitic Jaeger
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Least Tern
Roseate Tern
Black Tern
Black Skimmer
Common Nighthawk
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo
Pileated Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Philadelphia Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Golden-winged Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Mourning Warbler
Canada Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Savannah Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
- Transcript
Hotline: Birdline Delaware
Date: September 8, 2006
Number: 302/658-2747
To Report: Armas Hill, 302/529-1876 (VOICE)
302/529-1085 (FAX)
Compiler: Andy Ednie (ednieap@wittnet.com)
Coverage: Delaware, Delmarva Peninsula, nearby Delaware Valley, Southern
New Jersey, Maryland
Transcriber: Andy Ednie (ednieap@wittnet.com)
For Friday, September 8th, this is Birdline Delaware, from the Delaware
Museum of Natural History in Greenville. I'm Andy Ednie, glad to be back.
Armas Hill is away this week.
Last weekend, Delaware was deluged by Tropical Storm Ernesto. Rainfall
varied from 1.85 inches in Wilmington to 4 inches in Georgetown. Some of the
birds brought by the storm included a LEACH'S STORM-PETREL, PARASITIC
JAEGERS, and ROSEATE TERNS off the point at Cape Henlopen State Park found
by Jeff and Liz Gordon, RED-NECKED and WILSON'S PHALAROPES and over 70
BLACK TERNS at Prime Hook found by Ed Sigda.
Other birds in the area included a huge fallout of JAEGERS at the Concrete
Ship from Sunset Beach in Cape May, all 3 species including 27 POMARINE, 9
PARASITIC, and 3 LONG-TAILS. Also seen were BRIDLED, SOOTY, and BLACK TERN.
On the Delaware River, behind the Philadelphia Airport, there was an
incredible number of pelagic species seen, including, SOOTY, SANDWICH, and
ARCTIC TERN, RED and RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, WILSON'S STORM-PETREL, and SABINE'S
GULLS.
The only interesting bird I found was a PECTORAL SANDPIPER with 35 LESSER
YELLOWLEGS in the field by the entrance to Fox Point State Park in
Wilmington.
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER and AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER were also seen in the
plowed fields behind Fowler's Beach. And, 2 BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS were seen at
Broadkill Beach.
BAIRD'S SANDPIPER and a half dozen AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS were seen
yesterday at the Wick's Potato Farm, along Rt 9, just south of the entrance
to Bombay Hook and before the bridge to Leipsic. Also in that field were 125
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, 250 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, KILLDEER, 13 PECTORAL
SANDPIPERS, SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, and 7 CASPIAN TERNS.
The storm flooded several roadways in Delaware, at Broadkill Beach, Woodland
Beach and below Dobbinsville. The roadway was almost completely washed away
at Port Mahon. The riprap that had been placed to protect the road was
sitting on top of the macadam. Port Mahon Road was closed today for the
ongoing repairs, but should be back open by this weekend.
Some good birds at White Clay Creek this week included a PHILADELPHIA VIREO
and a YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER on Wednesday, and a GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER at
the Wedgewood parking lot yesterday. The GOLDEN-WINGED was reported to be a
drab female, but who cares; it's still a GOLDEN-WING!
Warblers at White Clay this week included BLUE-WINGED, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE,
PARULA, CHESTNUT-SIDED, MAGNOLIA, BLACK-THROATED GREEN, BLACK-THROATED BLUE,
BAY-BREASTED, BLACKBURNIAN, and NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH. The first SWAINSON'S
THRUSH of the season was reported at White Clay yesterday. VEERY,
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, and YELLOW-THROATED VIREO were also reported.
This has been an exceptional fall season to see CUCKOOS, 15 YELLOW-BILLS and
2 BLACK-BILLS were reported at White Clay on Wednesday. A BLACK-BILLED and 6
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOOS were also seen this morning at Brandywine Creek State
Park.
Today at Brandywine Creek, a female MOURNING WARBLER was reported at the
edge of the Freshwater Marsh Preserve. Other birds at Brandywine Creek
included a LEAST FLYCATCHER at the north end of the Freshwater Marsh, a
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER was found at the north end of the park, off Ramsey
Rd., and PILEATED WOODPECKERS were seen Sunday, along the east bank. A total
of 18 species of WARBLERS were reported including: BLUE-WINGED, NASHVILLE,
TENNESSEE, PARULA, MAGNOLIA, CHESTNUT-SIDED, BLACK-THROATED GREEN,
BLACK-THROATED BLUE, BLACKBURNIAN, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, WORM-EATING,
OVENBIRD, CANADA, and WILSON'S.
A YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER was also seen on Monday, behind Hoopes'
Reservoir from Hillside Mill Rd. along with BALTIMORE ORIOLES and 8 species
of warbler including NASHVILLE'S and PINE.
There were several good flights of COMMON NIGHTHAWK last week. 21 were
counted at the hawkwatch at Brandywine Creek State Park on Tuesday. Several
were seen Monday evening at Cape Henlopen State Park, at The Point and over
the Walking Dunes. On a sad note, one COMMON NIGHTHAWK was found dead on the
road at the entrance to A.I. duPont Children's Hospital on Sunday.
BLACK and SURF SCOTER were reported this week at Cape Henlopen State Park.
One BLACK SCOTER was seen on flying over Delaware Bay from Broadkill Beach
during the storm on Saturday. BLACK SKIMMERS were seen at The Point at Cape
Henlopen State Park. 24 were counted from the parking lot on Monday, along
with 7 BROWN PELICANS flying by. BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCHES were reported at
Gordon's Pond and at the marina in Henlopen Acres. 2 PRAIRIE WARBLERS were
also reported at Gordon's pond.
There have been several reports of BALD EAGLES this week. 2 were seen flying
over Rt. 1 at the junction with Rt. 10 in south Dover on Monday. Another
immature eagle was seen flying over Prime Hook Beach Rd. An adult was seen
flying over Claymont on Tuesday. 4 adults were over the marsh at Bombay Hook
yesterday, along with OSPREY, NORTHERN HARRIER, MERLIN, and PEREGRINE
FALCON.
One of the premier shorebird spots in Delaware right now is Raymond Pool at
Bombay Hook. There are over 350 AMERICAN AVOCETS there. Also reported has
been 4 HUDSONIAN GODWITS there last weekend, and 2 WILSON'S PHALAROPES on
Wednesday. The first DUNLIN of the season, still with a black belly, was
seen there on Saturday. Puddle ducks are also starting to return, PINTAIL,
SHOVELER, and GREEN-WINGED TEALS were there in good numbers. A COMMON
MERGANSER was reported in the marsh opposite Shearness Pool last weekend.
Good numbers of juvenile SANDERLING were found along the bayshore at the
Logan Lane Tract of the Ted Harvey Conservation Area yesterday. Hopefully,
that's a sign of a successful breeding season in the arctic this summer.
Maybe if we let the birds feed in Delaware before they fly north, then they'll
have more energy to reproduce when they get there. RUDDY TURNSTONE,
WHITE-RUMPED and STILT SANDPIPERS were also along the bay at the Logan
Tract. A single SAVANNAH SPARROW was also found there along the dike road,
the first of the season.
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER, along with LEAST, CASPIAN, and ROYAL TERNS were seen
at Mispillion Inlet this week.
Now for this week's special feature from 1450 WILM News Radio. You can hear
the special feature, with sound effects, on Wednesdays at 5:55 and 8:55am
and again at 6:55 pm.
Birds are given their names by a special committee of the scientists under
the direction of the American Ornithological Union. But, many of our birds
here in the United States were given their names by the European settlers.
They often named birds from what they were use to seeing in Europe. Our
AMERICAN ROBIN was named after the EUROPEAN ROBIN. Both have brick red
breasts, but other then that they are not even related. The EUROPEAN ORIOLE
is completely different from the BALTIMORE ORIOLE, although they both have
some yellow color.
Birds also receive colloquial names from laypeople. Delaware is home to
hundreds of long-legged waders. The heron colony at Pea Patch Island is the
largest heronry north of Florida. When Europeans, Swedish, Dutch, and then
English, first saw these birds, they were given typical rural names, like
angel-cranes, Johnny gray-legs, reedbird, and squawk. But, one name that
has fascinated me is the shypoke. What is a shypoke and how did it get its
name?
Shypoke is a name used to describe the GREEN HERON. This is a common summer
bird in Delaware, in our marshes, ponds, a stream bottoms. Only about 12
inches tall, they have an olive-green back, reddish breast and streaked
belly. In flight, they dangle their bright yellow legs behind them. GREEN
HERONS are strong flyers. After nesting, their post-breeding dispersal has
taken them as far as England and France.
GREEN HERONS are also one of the few tool using birds. They will hunt prey
along a riverbank by dangling feathers, twigs, or even insects to lure fish
to the surface. Their secretive manner of luring and then jabbing their prey
could be how they got their name.
But, another reason comes from Jim Rising, Ornithologist at the Royal
Ontario Museum in Toronto. Jim grew up in Missouri, where the local
hillybillies say the word Shypoke comes from the German vernacular. GREEN
HERONS also have an interesting way of escape. When frightened, they'll
squawk (Green Heron SFx), and then defecate as they fly away. Poke is a
term for bag. Shy is actually a corruption of the German word Schite. Put
them together and you have.oh well, let's not go there.
Anyway, now is good time to see GREEN HERONS along our streams and waterways
here in Delaware.
I'll be back here next week and would appreciate your reports. Please call
302-792-9591 or email me at ednieap@fcc.net. My thanks to Dave Hallenback,
Mike Smith, and Uday Kumar for their reports. I'm Andy Ednie, good birding.
-end transcript