Cape Henlopen State Park

 Bernie & I stopped at the Cape Henlopen State Park on the way home.  Target bird was the Red-throated Loon.  I saw 2 of them plus Bonaparte Gulls and a Sanderling.  Nothing else around as it was a cold, quite windy day.

Red-throated Loon

Bonaparte Gull

Bonaparte Gull

Sanderling

Nummy Island

 Another great place to visit in the winter is the free bridge along Nummy Island.  It is usually good for Horned Grebe's and Red-throated Loons with looks across the marsh of American Oystercatchers. There were a group of 7 AM's that I got good looks at while at the bridge.

Beth's Patch ~ Red-throated Loon

Nummy Island

With such great success last week finding Piping Plovers at SH Point I decided to go back and see what birds were around also check out Nummy Island  First stop Nummy Island where there were both Red-throated and Common Loons, American Oystercatchers flying, Red-breasted Mergansers among the birds seen.

Now you see the Loon

And now you don't!
Common Loon in breeding plumage (below)

The tides were higher than I expected for a mid tide as I hadn't considered we just had a Nor'Easter a few days back and now there was a new moon. So off I went to SH Point to watch the birds playing along the waters edge.  So, I carried my chair down to the beach and carefully placed it for good looks at the birds.

After about 1/2 hr there was a sudden higher wave that stranded me in several inches of water as I hadn't realized I placed the chair in a depression.  The wave didn't recede as I would have expected, so my choices were to run through the water in my sneakers then or wait for a few more waves and deeper water.  So I picked up my beach chair, protected my camera and got out of that spot.  Walking back the beach I noted that the tide was much higher than normal and was breaking well above the "normal" breaker line.  The picture to the left is normally quite far from the breakers and the waves were rushing far beyond it onto the protected beach/dune areas.  Driving back through Nummy Island I was amazed to see water lapping at the edges of the road.  I haven't ever seen the water almost ready to flood the road.  (Below is a picture)

Birding - Nummy Island

  

This morning I stole 2 hours to go birding before I went to work.  The forecast for today is 50 degrees with winds about 10 MPH so I'll be leaving work early.  I normally only work about 24 hrs per week but have been working 32-40+ hrs per week so today's a day to recharge my mental batteries.  First stop was Nummy Island where at first I saw my first of the season Yellow Legs. I also saw a Great Blue Heron fishing, Red-throated Loons, Horned Grebe and had close looks at about 2 dozen Greater Scaup.

Red-throated Loon - Nummy Island

I was out birding today looking for birds along Nummy Island.  There was a group of Red-throated Loons just at the end of the bridge where I could sit and enjoy looking at them.  The weather was warm and the looks were great.  Sadly, one of the Loons has something hanging down from his chin area.

I sent off the picture to a naturalist who believes this to be a hook from a fisherman.  That makes sense as I often see people fishing from the rocks where I was sitting.  He also said that usually the bird in question will die as it won't be able to eat.  How sad for the loon.  Sure wish something could be done.

Nummy Island- Red-throated Loons & Horned Grebe's

I am a reader of Don Freiday's blog which is great for nature/bird lovers. He posts at least once weekly with interesting facts and tidbits about birds but also usually posts several other pictures during the week. One recent post was about the Red-throated Loons hanging out by Nummy Island.

Red-throated Loon caught an appetiter!

I had been wanting to go by the Osprey nests by the bridge going into North Wildwood to see if the Osprey had arrived yet so since I was done early at work decided that I'd drive through Stone Harbor and check out a few sites before ending up at Nummy Island. Nothing at the Wetlands Institute but a few Mallards. Next stop at the Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary where I really only saw some American Robins. Off over the free bridge which is having repairs and is down to one lane. I could see the tide was out and could see birds but no stopping permitted so down over to Nummy Island where I stopped a number of times and saw only a variety of gulls. Last stop South end of Nummy Island where I found the Red-throated Loons drifting in and out on the tide and mixed in were some Horned Grebe's that were diving in and out of the water. I spent quite a while sitting observing them and taking pictures.

Horned Grebe