Elfins, Darners, and Clubtails 4/14/07

Photos: Line Road, Caroline County, Maryland. Springtime Darner. Six-spotted Tiger Beetle -- these beautiful beetles were very common along the road. Common Green Darner.


On Saturday Colleen and I spent a few hours walking along Line Road in Caroline County, Maryland. My main targets were Henry's Elfins and Juvenal's Duskywing. We were pleasantly surprised by the amount of insects that were flying. Line Road is a dirt road that is not heavily traveled and I have always had good luck with insects along the roadsides. The first butterfly I spotted was a Henry's Elfin. Elfin's are small mostly brown butterflies that are very habitat specific. I have only seen Henry's Elfins on forested dirt roads on Delmarva. Their main foodplant on Delmarva is American Holly and their fight time is very short from early April to May. While we were walking down the road medium sized dragonflies kept zooming past. I knew they were probably Springtime Darners but I could not get a good look because their flight was so rapid. So I decided to run back to the car and grab my butterfly net and try to catch one. After a couple minutes of running, jumping, and swinging (much to Colleen's amusement), I was finally able to snag one of the dragonflies. I was right in my assumption of the dragons being Springtime Darners. Springtime Darners are one of Delmarva's earliest dragonflies. They also have a short flight time so I was real happy to be able to get a shot of this insect. Spring Azures were very common along the road. These small bright blue butterflies are very common in the spring on Delmarva. The Azure complex is very confusing with many subspecies and possibly full species all lumped under the named Spring Azure. Depending on whose taxonomic status the reader decides to follow, there may be as many as four full species in the complex. The 'Atlantic Holly' Azure is also found on Delmarva but I do not feel that I can safely discern between the species and for now I am sticking with Spring Azure. While taking photos of the azure a Juvenal's Duskywing landed a few feet away. Duskywings are another confusing butterfly family with many species that are extremely variable in their wing patterns. Fortunately on Delmarva we only have a few species and with a little field practice can be separated fairly easily. Juvenal's is the first Duskywing species to fly and can be quite common on Delmarva in wooded areas. While walking back to the car we spooked up a small dark butterfly off the road that landed in the grass along the road side. I was surprised to see that it was another species of Elfin. Eastern Pine Elfins are small brightly patterned brown butterflies. I was elated because I have only seen Eastern Pine Elfins twice on Delmarva. I consider them very uncommon. Colleen and I then took a side trail that led down to a small creek. The trail sides were weedy with waist high grasses. Amazingly hundreds of Springtime Darners would take off from the grasses as we walked past. I have never seen so many individuals of this species in such a small area. Walking back on the path towards tha car a Common Green Darner flew past. Common Green Darners are one of Delmarva's largest dragonflies and one of the prettiest. I was able to catch one in the net and get some really great photos. Driving home I told Colleen that this was just the beginning, that in a month it was going to get really crazy!

The Little Egret that wasn't there 4/7/07

Photos: Great Horned Owl -- Little Creek WMA. Black-crowned Night-Heron -- Bombay Hook NWR. Common Loon eating a crab -- Indian River Inlet. Red-throated Loon -- Indian River Inlet.


So while perusing the rare bird alerts on the 6th I noticed that a Little Egret had been spotted at Bombay Hook NWR outside Dover, Delaware. Little Egrets are super rare in North America. They are an Old World Heron and any sighting on the East Coast is real exciting. I called Bill Hubick and Hans Holbrook and we set up a time to meet and chase the bird early the next morning.
I woke early Saturday morning to almost an inch of snow and it was still coming down. An hour later Bill, Hans, and myself were rolling down the back roads of Delmarva watching the snow covered fields zoom by while wondering if this was really April. Upon reaching Bombay Hook we drove straight to Bear Swamp where the Little Egret had been seen the day before. There were egrets present but we could not pick out anything other than Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets both of which are common warm weather birds on Delmarva. We decided to criuse the wildlife loop of the refuge slowly just to make sure we had not missed the bird. Along this slow cruise I was able to score some new photos of fairly common species like Red-winged Blackbird, Tree Swallow, and Black-crowned Night-Heron. After three hours spent on the refuge we decided that we had looked long enough for the Little Egret and decided to head south. Port Mahon was strangely slow with only a Snowy Egret photographed. We then headed to Little Creek where we had our star bird of the day. While driving back out to the main road, Bill and Hans simultaneously yelled stop. After backing up a couple feet, along side the road sitting on a small limb was a newly fledged Great Horned Owl. It puffed out its feathers and tried to look as mean as possible. It then started bill clacking and soon an adult Owl flew in and landed in the trees behind the young bird. It was spectacular watching the young owl's behavior. Being satisfied with our photos we left the owl and headed towards the ocean inlets. The wind was howling on the coast and it was really cold even though the sun had come out and the morning snow had long ago disapeared. Gannets were diving off shore and both species of loons were active inside the inlets along with Bonaparte's Gulls, Scoters, and Red-breasted Mergansers. Common Loons were almost entirely in breeding plumage while the Red-throateds were still in transition. Eventhough we did not see the Little Egret it was still an awesome day on Delmarva.

Bitterns and Cricket Frogs 4/1/07

Photos: Wild Turkey -- photgraphed in Millington WMA. Spring Beauty -- photgraphed in northern Caroline County. They are usually one of the first woodland wildflowers to bloom in April.


On Sunday Bill Hubick, Tom Field, Mike Parr, and myself birded Kent and Caroline Counties in Maryland. Even with temperatures in the 40's and a steady wind we were able to find some great birds. We started the day at Eastern Neck NWR just south of Rock Hall in Kent County. Eastern Neck has become known as the most northerly location for breeding Brown-headed Nuthatches. There has been at least one pair here for a couple seasons. Bill and Mike had not seen the nuthatches so they were are main target along with Yellow-throated Warblers. Yellow-throated Warblers are also very tricky to locate in Kent County and Eastern Neck is the only spot where they are observed with any regularity. After walking down one of the trails at the refuge we soon hit a flock which held all of our desired species. I was not able to get photographs of the nuthatches or warblers but I did get a pic of a Golden-crowned Kinglet. Golden-crowned Kinglets were moving through in sizable numbers and were observed at most of our stops throughout the day. We then headed towards the bay to search for Northern Gannets. The bay outlook at the butterfly garden didn't produce any Gannets. Northern Gannets come up the Chesapeake Bay in the Spring while migrating north but gannets have a major bridge phobia. On a Spring day you can sit at the Bay Bridge and watch gannets soar right up to the bridge and then turn around. They refuse to fly over the bridge. Because of this behavior Northern Gannets are very rare in the northern bay. One of the best times to observe gannets north of the Bay Bridge is on foggy days, wait for the fog to burn off, and hope a few birds happened to fly over the bridge during the limited visibilty. It wasn't foogy the morning we were there so our gannet search didn't turn up any birds but Mike picked out a Little Gull flying with a Bonaparte's Gull. Little Gulls are regular in very small numbers in Spring and Fall. They are normally viewed in Bonie flocks and it is always special to see one. Our bird was way too far away for any photos. We then headed to Millington WMA in eastern Kent County. Along the way I photographed a Cedar Waxwing. Once in Millington the birding was very slow. The cold temperatures and wind kept most of the birds hunkered down. Bill did find a brave Northern Cricket Frog that allowed all of the group to get great photos. After Millington we headed into northern Caroline County where we hit a few wetland areas. Tom braved one particular marsh and spooked an American Bittern that flew right over Bill and myself allowing us both to get great shots. The bittern was a major score. Because they are so secretive in often impassable habitat I was not expecting to get a bittern shot for the year. We ended the day fruitlessly searching through gull flocks for another Little Gull that would be close enough to photograph.

Nassawango on the last day of March

Photos: Festive Tiger Beetle -- one of the first Tiger Beetles on Delmarva. Falcate Oragnetip -- photographed near the Nassawango River. American Kestrel -- photographed sitting on the fence surrounding the Salisbury airport.


Saturday was my first outing since getting back from Costa Rica and I was excited. It was warm, butterflies were flying, and the first neotropical migrants had finally arrived. My main goal of the day was to photograph a Louisana Waterthrush. The Nassawango area of Worcester/Wicomico Counties in Maryland holds a large population of these birds so that was where I decided to concentrate my search. Colleen and I arrived in the swampy woodlands that surround the Nassawango River in northwest Worcester County and were immediately bombarded by the songs of the waterthrush. As we walked down the dirt road which runs through the middle of the swamp we were scolded by a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher which unfortunately would not come close enough for a photo. Yellow-throated Warblers were also throwing their songs around the forest, but like the gnatcatcher would not come down from their lofty perches to pose for my camera. A single Falcate Orangetip allowed a few photos while feeding alongside the road. Orangetips are one off the earliest flying butterflies on Delmarva. They are really beautiful creatures. Unfortunately their flight season is very short and only lasts until May. The waterthrushes were not very cooperative but I was able to get a decent shot of one bird. Even though I did not get that many shots it was nice to be out in the early Spring watching nature being reborn.