Birders converge on Delmarva Peninsula

Cars rolled into Bombay Hook National Wildlife refuge Thursday morning for the start of the four-day Delmarva Birding Weekend. Out came the binoculars, the spotting scopes, the cameras, the field guides.

"This is ground zero for the checklist," said Delmarva Birding Weekend organizer Jim Rapp.

Bombay Hook was the first guided field trip of the long weekend. And so, as the first of more than a dozen field trips got under way, Rapp told this group: "The checklist is blank." At Bombay Hook, the event begins with a clean slate and over four days, bird species are marked as they are spotted.

Before the morning was over, the group of 18 visitors tallied 55 different bird species including a spectacular, up-close view of a bald eagle, an osprey and flocks of American avocets.

Over the course of a typical Delmarva Birding Weekend, more than 200 species will be tallied.

STORY: Delaware beach driving lessons: Many dig it

The region has long been a draw for birdwatchers because of the diversity of wildlife that can be seen between the Delaware and Chesapeake bays and the pastures and woodlands in between. The late Sam Dyke, who was active in both the Salisbury, Maryland-based Ward Museum and local birding clubs, suggested the idea and offered to run it out of the Ward Museum back in 1995, Rapp said.The annual event, now in its 21st year, draws thousands of visitors to Delaware, the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia each April.

Since then, the event has grown and become an offseason, ecotourism draw.

There are many birding weekends, Rapp said. But this one is a little different because people can attend just one or two trips or events or take in all of them.

"We offer trips on an à la carte menu," Rapp said. Four days of continuous birdwatching "that is a lot of birding for some people."

But if you spend your money on a ticket for a whole weekend, you don't want to waste it, he said.

With this festival, you can go to a couple of the events and then go to the beach, out to dinner or shopping, he said.

Of course, some people want to go on every trip and they can do that, too, he said.

The other difference is that even inexperienced birders can have fun because guides are there to help point out the birds.

Long-time birder Chris Bennett guided the Bombay Hook tour Thursday and nearly every species became a teaching moment.

When the group saw a downy woodpecker, he explained how to tell it's a downy, rather than the similar-looking hairy woodpecker.

"Size is one way," he said. The hairy has a long bill and if you look at the edge of the tail, on the downy there are little white spots."

"For us, it's a lot better to be with a guide," she said. "We like to try the different kinds of trips."Carol Hertzoff, of Wilmington, has been coming to the birding festival for years and always puts Bombay Hook on her to-do list.

STORY: Prepare for narrower beaches this summer

There are driving trips like Bombay Hook where the walking is minimal, there are hikes and there are trips where birders paddle a kayak or ride in boats.

"We found it by mistake," she said. "My husband wanted to come and do the Shenandoah Valley."
For Verna Ames, of Battleground, Washington, this was both a first trip to Delaware and a first Delmarva Birding Festival.

Ames said she went looking for a birding festival and stumbled upon this one.

She was hoping to see a red knot shorebird before the weekend was over.

"There's a short-billed dowitcher flying across," Bennett shouted out. "The best way to find stuff is to spot it with the naked eye. Look for movement."

Several trips still have space available. To find out more or make online reservations go to www.delmarvabirding.org.

Reach Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.