January '07-- A Summary

Photos: Peacock at Tunis Mills, marsh south of Blackwater NWR, Black Rat Snake at Prime Hook NWR, Mallard X Domestic Duck Hybrid at Kent Narrows.

I am real pleased with the way the fundraiser is progressing. After one month I have photographed 51 species (50 birds and one herp) and still have many easy winter birds to get. I have been hitting the coast real hard trying to make sure I do not miss any of the coastal winter birds and have chased a lot of the rarities that have shown up on Delmarva. Chasing rarities has been relatively successful. I have taken photos of the Tropical Kingbird, Marbled Godwits, and the Eurasian Wigeon, but I have missed the Northern Shrike three times, the Red-necked Grebe, and the Little and Black-headed Gulls that have been hanging out in the Bonapartes Gull flock at Indian River Inlet. Early in January the weather was amazing with temperatures in the seventies. I saw or heard four species of frog (Green, Bull Frog, Spring Peeper, Fowler's Toad), two species of snake (Black Rat and Eastern Ribbon), two species of butterfly (Monarch and Clouded Sulpher), and many wild flowers in bloom. Later in the month the temperature got back to normal with the blustery winds, freezing rain, and even a little snow. With the shackles of Maryland loosened, birding Delaware and Virginia has been great fun. I am going to spend February concentrating more on land birds, hitting many of the inland parks on Delmarva instead of the coast. Hopefully, I will be able to keep up the fifty species a month average!