Cape Henlopen State Park
12 October 2024 – 8 am to 11:00 am
8 Participants
Trip Leader: Chris Bennett
Group photo by Chris Bennett.
Weather:
Start temp: 60F
End Temp: 75F
Wind: 0-5 mph, W to WNW
Mostly Sunny
A slow day of birding beginning at the Fishing Pier with additional stops at the Hawk Watch and Herring Point. Not much in the way of migrants observed – though two Red-breasted Nuthatches seen in the pine stand below the hawk were nice to see – considering how few were found in Delaware during the winter of 2023-24. The hawk watch had been slow the previous few days and this morning that trend continued. We did have a Cooper’s Hawk, a Peregrine Falcon, a few Osprey and two Bald Eagles sitting on the Fire Control Tower to the west waiting to accost fish-bearing Osprey which came in off the ocean. One of the birds did attempt to steal an Osprey’s catch but returned with empty talons.
Red-breasted Nuthatch by Carolyn Holland.
While crossing the Gordons Pond Trail near the Herring Point parking lot one of our group was chastised by a cyclist for daring to set foot on what he deemed a trail for bikes only. Had I heard that ridiculous pronouncement (I was already heading down the Walking Dunes Trail out of earshot) I would have taken a few minutes to educate that individual on the definition of multi-use trail. We did manage to hear and see a Pine Warbler along the Walking Dunes Trail. We ended the trip at Herring Point where we saw 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the beach north of Hering Point trying to avoid the hordes of park users walking the beach. All in all a nice day to be at the beach, if seeing lots of birds wasn’t your primary goal.
38 Species Observed
3 eBird Checklists:
Fishing Pier – https://ebird.org/checklist/S198516400
Hawk Watch – https://ebird.org/checklist/S198516400
Herring Point – https://ebird.org/checklist/S198501198