The Nature of Delaware

It’s Bird Nesting Time!

Posted by Joe Sebastiani on May 1, 2013

Posted in: Birds. Tagged: American Robin, bird nests, Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Screech-owl, House Wren, NestWatch, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow. Leave a Comment

By Joe Sebastiani, Seasonal Program Team Leader

If you have a bird box in your yard, you might have seen some action around it lately. I certainly have. The feature box in our backyard was the scene of a dispute between an Eastern Bluebird and a House Wren last week. Feathers were ruffled, there was a little wrestling and chasing, and in the end it looks like the House Wren won. It has been busy bringing little sticks to the nest since then, with his mate monitoring the progress.

Purple Martin are back at nesting colonies throughout the area. Later this summer, they will have nests with chicks, like the ones pictured. Photo by Joe Sebastiani

Observing activity at bird boxes is an easy way to peer into the private lives of birds. My wife and I are Delaware Nature Society volunteers who monitor bird boxes at the Bucktoe Creek Preserve, and we look forward to our rounds each week. We already have some nesting Eastern Bluebirds with eggs, a few House Wrens building nests, and Tree Swallows starting to add grass to nests. We are also keeping tabs on any nest we find along the route, such as the Robin that is now laying eggs in her nest on our shutter.

American Robin start nesting activities in April. The ones on my shutter are starting to incubate their eggs. Photo by Joe Sebastiani

American Robin start nesting activities in April. The ones on my shutter are starting to lay their eggs. Photo by Joe Sebastiani

Recently, the Delaware Nature Society has become a Chapter for Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s NestWatch Citizen Science program. As a chapter, we hold trainings on how to find bird nests, monitor nest boxes, and how use the NestWatch database to record data on eggs, young, and nest success . This is a really fun way to keep track of your backyard bird nests and nest boxes, and contribute your findings to science at the same time. We report all of our bird nest activities into NestWatch, including wild nests like the Robin in our yard. You can always access your data to keep track of the status of each nest, and the mapping feature on the website allows you to see all of your nests on one interactive map. If you like birds, keeping records, maps, science, and helping others learn about birds, this activity is for you!

Monitoring bird boxes and finding bird nests is very rewarding. Consider monitoring nests around your house or in a local park over the summer and enter your findings into Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s NestWatch website. Photo by Joe Sebastiani

I will be conducting a NestWatch training on Thursday, May 9th, 6pm at Ashland Nature Center in Hockessin, DE. Anyone can attend. It is free for Delaware Nature Society members, and $5 for non-members. Call (302) 239-2334 if you would like to attend. This training will get you ready to monitor a nest box in your yard, or if you are motivated, to become a volunteer bird box monitor, like my wife and I. As a matter of fact, we need bird box monitors at Ashland Nature Center and at the Red Clay Reservation in Hockessin if you are interested!

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Top Ten Cuban Birds, part III

Posted by Joe Sebastiani on April 19, 2013

Posted in: Birds, Travel. Tagged: Bee Hummingbird, Cuba, Cuban Parakeet, Cuban Parrot. 2 comments

By Joe Sebastiani, Seasonal Program Team Leader

Bird photography by Hank Davis, DNS Board Member

The last birds on the list were special highlights of the DNS trip to Cuba in February. They were at the top of our list to see, and everyone was really excited to get great looks at these birds. Let’s see the final birds…

#2 – Parrots and Parakeets

Cuban Parakeets are a rare sight in Cuba, the only place they live in the world.

In the small village of Bermejas works a birding guide named Orlando. He guides people to show them many species of birds in the forest and town where he lives. He makes his living from this, and I am sure the other villagers in Bermejas know this. Perhaps people support him by leaving wild birds alone. This might explain why there are still Parakeets around Bermejas. In this village, Orlando found a flock of about 30 Cuban Parakeets, and Hank Davis was once again quick with the camera, capturing part of the flock in flight with this beautiful image. This species has disappeared from most of Cuba because of habitat loss and being trapped as a caged bird.

The Cuban Parrot shares the #2 spot with the Parakeet. Cuban Parrots actually live in Cuba, Cayman Islands, and the Bahamas and is considered “near threatened” with about 10,000 individuals in Cuba. They used to live throughout the island, but habitat destruction and capture for the pet trade have seriously reduced their numbers. Sound familiar? We saw them in Guanahacabibes and Zapata National Parks.

Cuban Parrots are beautiful, noisy, and “near threatened” due to habitat loss and collection for the pet trade.

#1 – Bee Hummingbird

I asked everyone on the trip what bird they most wanted to see. Just about everyone listed the Bee Hummingbird as their top choice. After all, it is the world’s smallest bird measuring just 2.5″ long. For comparison, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird that visits your backyard in summer is 3.75″ long. The Bee Hummingbird really seems more like an insect than a bird as it zooms around feeding on small flowers. We were able to see several males in Guanahacabibes National Park, however, this is the only place we saw them during the two weeks we were there, conducting bird surveys over half the island. The Bee Hummingbird used to be common, but due to habitat destruction, now has a very spotty distribution and is considered “near threatened”.

The Bee Hummingbird is the smallest bird in the world and is only found in Cuba.

The Bee Hummingbird is considered “near threatened” and has a spotty distribution in Cuba, the only place it lives in the world.

During our two-week trip to Cuba, the Delaware Nature Society team of “skilled avian field workers” found more than 160 species of birds. We collected data on bird species found and numbers of individuals we came across. Our data was shared with the Caribbean Conservation Trust and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Our findings will be used by the scientific community on the status of resident and migratory species on the island.

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Signs of Spring in Full Swing: Toads, Snakes, Flowers and More

Posted by Derek Stoner on April 9, 2013

Posted in: Ashland Nature Center, Birds, Botany, Reptiles and Amphibians. Tagged: Signs of Spring Challenge. Leave a Comment

By Derek Stoner, Conservation Project Coordinator

Eastern Phoebes are back and calling loudly from locations along the Red Clay Creek at Ashland. Photo by Derek Stoner.

Spring has absolutely burst forth in the past couple weeks, and there are lots of exciting sightings to report upon. The first Skunk Cabbage in bloom was noted on March 18, while and an Eastern Phoebe arrived on March 20.

The First of Season Garter Snake showed upon March 27, while the first Anglewing butterfly of the season was noted fluttering by on April 4.

Violets burst forth in bloom at Ashland on April 11. Photo by Derek Stoner.

With temperatures reaching almost 80 degrees last week, plants burst forth in bloom: Bloodroot flowers were noted on April 9, Spring Beauty blossoms on April 10, and Violet flowers on April 11.

The warmth also brought along the first sighting of Barn Swallow on April 6, and the American Toads emerged on April 7. The first Snapping turtle of Spring was noted in the Ashland Marsh on April 10, while the first Water Snake made an appearance on April 11.

At this point in the season (April 15), there are only three remaining official Signs of Spring yet to be observed (or reported) at Ashland Nature Center: House Wren, Robin building nest, and Trout Lily blooming.

Pleas let us know what Signs of Spring you are seeing in your backyard!

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Top Ten Cuban Birds, Part II

Posted by Joe Sebastiani on April 5, 2013

Posted in: Birds, Travel. Tagged: Blue-headed Quail-dove, Cuba, Cuban Gnatcatcher, Gray-fronted Quail-dove, Key West Quail-dove, Zapata Sparrow, Zapata Wren. Leave a Comment

By Joe Sebastiani, Seasonal Program Team Leader

Photos by Hank Davis, DNS Board Member, Professional Photographer, and one of the 13 skilled avian surveyors on the recent trip to Cuba

This is Part II of the “Top Ten Cuban Birds” from the February Delaware Nature Society trip to Cuba. See below for numbers 5 through 3, picked because our group wanted to see them, were really excited when we did see them, or because of their rarity. Most are endemic to Cuba, meaning that is the only place they live. To see numbers 10 through 6, and to read a little about the trip, see my previous blog.

#5 – Cuban Gnatcatcher

The Cuban Gnatcatcher is endemic to eastern Cuba. It is similar to our Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, but smaller.

Hank Davis captured images of all the birds on this blog and my previous one about the birds of Cuba. This is one of his best of the trip, I think. Cuban Gnatcatchers live in coastal xeric scrublands in eastern Cuba. This kind of habitat is dry and very low and impenetrably thick. Even though its range and habitat are limited, and some of it is threatened by coastal development, the Cuban Gnatcatcher is still relatively common. These small birds are similar to the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher that lives in Delaware during the summer, but it has a small crescent behind the eye and sounds different, plus it is a little smaller than the Blue-gray. We saw this species on the islands of Cayo Coco and Cayo Romano in north-central Cuba.

#4 – Zapata Wren and Zapata Sparrow (I know I am cheating. Who cares!)

The Zapata Wren looks like an oversized House Wren. It only lives in Cuba’s Zapata Swamp.

Zapata Swamp is the largest wilderness area in the Caribbean. If you have ever been to the Florida Everglades, it will look similar…large expanses of sawgrass and cattail marsh, hummocks of tropical forest, and scattered palm trees. It is vast, at over 1-million acres, and it is a world biosphere reserve. There are two species of birds that live here and nowhere else on earth, the Zapata Wren and Zapata Rail, and a third that lives hardly anywhere else, the Zapata Sparrow. No one ever sees the Zapata Rail, not even the author of the Birds of Cuba book, Orlando Garrido, and hardly anything is known about it. We didn’t see it either.

We did get great looks at the Zapata Wren, however, which looks like a very large House Wren that might live in your backyard during summer. It even sounds a little like a House Wren. The Zapata Wren is an endangered species, and lives within extensive areas of tall marsh grass, where it stays low and creeps around out of sight. The director of the Zapata National Park successfully called one out of the marsh and it came within feet of us, which is how Hank was able to take the above image of this ridiculously secretive bird.

The Zapata Sparrow is a tame, colorful sparrow that lives in three widely separate areas in Cuba…Zapata Swamp, Cayo Coco area, and Guantanamo Province.

Zapata Sparrow is a species with a very strange range. It lives in the Zapata Swamp, Cayo Coco, and Guantanamo. These small populations are over 100 miles away from each other. The Zapata race likes habitat that is extensive areas of sawgrass marsh. The Cayo Coco race lives in semi-deciduous coastal forest/thicket. The Guantanamo race lives in areas of thorn-scrub and cacti. We saw both the Zapata and Cayo Coco races. This is a colorful sparrow, and is quite tame, and may approach you within a few feet.

#3 – The Quail-doves (3-way tie for 3rd)

In an area known as Bermejas in the Zapata National Park, we had a Quail-dove Hat Trick. Blue-headed, Gray-fronted, and Key West Quail-doves at one location. Luckily, a local birder named Orlando knows where they are and put up a bird blind for us to see them. Quail-doves are a type of dove that acts more like a quail…very secretive and skittish. If they hear you, they get out of there quickly, so one must be quiet and still to see them.

The Blue-headed Quail-dove is an endangered species that only lives in Cuba.

The gorgeous Blue-headed Quail-dove is a Cuban endemic endangered species threatened with habitat loss. It likes heavily forested areas, and most of those have been cut down in Cuba. We were fortunate to see two of them at close range in Zapata National Park. I will let Hank’s photo do the talking…this bird is stunning!

This plump species of Quail-dove is another beauty. It's population, which only lives in Cuba, considered threatened and vulnerable.

This plump species is the Gray-fronted Quail-dove and is another beauty. It’s population, which only lives in Cuba, considered threatened and vulnerable.

The Gray-fronted Quail-dove was one of the top birds that I wanted to see on the trip. Luckily, we saw one at Zapata National Park. This species was recently split from a similar one on Hispanola, so it is considered a Cuban endemic, and like many forest birds here, is threatened with habitat loss.

The Key West Quail-dove was a high-priority bird for me to see.

The Key West Quail-dove was another high-priority bird for me to see.

Ever since I opened my first Peterson’s Field Guide to the Birds, I desperately wanted to see the Key West Quail-dove. When John James Audubon explored Florida in the 1800′s, he found them on the Florida Keys. They live there no longer. To see one, you must go to the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispanola, or Puerto Rico. Luckily, we saw one on our “Quail-dove” morning. All of the Quail-dove species on Cuba are shy residents of thick, tropical forest and are very difficult to see. On top of that, they are gorgeous and mysterious…perfect for #3 on our list.

Stay tuned for the top two birds from the Delaware Nature Society’s February trip to Cuba!

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By Michele Wales, Farm Program Coordinator

Spring has just arrived…HOORAY! However, at Coverdale Farm, we have been working as if this verdant season has been here for weeks! Our 352-acre preserve is a dream-come-true for the green thumbs on staff that grow food for our CSA members; grow gardens to teach children about food plant life cycles; grow feed for our livestock; and manage the natural areas for biodiversity.

Timing is everything to make these gardens and fields thrive. Working early in the cold winter months we comb through seed catalogs; make field maps and garden plans; and devise management strategies to generate abroad range of desired products: organic vegetables, plant based “classrooms,” nutritious hay, and wildlife habitat.

Here’s a brief peek into what it takes to make the farm a booming center for food and ecology.

Community Supported Agriculture Program

By the time we have rung in the New Year, CSA Farmer Dan O’Brien has already ordered his seeds, planned his field rotations, and created his planting timeline. Several weeks ago Dan sowed several hundred vegetable seeds indoors in starter trays sandwiched between heat mats and lights. He worked with a local grower in Pennsylvania to raise thousands of plants that will eventually find their way into our 7-acre CSA site. Within the last month, as soon as the soil could be worked, Dan was out preparing the field for planting. He has already sown hearty cool- loving crops like peas, potatoes, carrots, and beets.

In February Dan and DNS Land Management staff members Steve and Josh, built a 2,000 square foot hoop house. This unheated, protective structure will allow Dan to extend the season of certain crops like tomatoes and cucumbers. The hoop house enables these “high summer” crops to be transplanted out earlier in the spring and remain in the field longer in the fall. In addition to this new house, Dan has 2 other hoop houses that he will use for season extension and seed germination. We still have shares available for the 2013 CSA season. Please visit our website www.delawarenaturesociety.org under “conservation corner” for registration details.

CSA Farmer Dan O’Brien with his shiny, new hoop house. Photo by Steve Johnas.

Education Gardens

Grey winter months set Farm Program Coordinator Michele Wales to dreaming of purple carrots, orange eggplant, and hundreds of heirloom tomatoes in all colors but red. Striving to show the genetic diversity of common and not-so-common foods that can be grown in our region, Michele focuses primarily on growing heirloom varieties. The goal of the 1 ¼ -acre education garden is to show all stages of the plants’ life from seed to flower, to fruit, and back to seed. This area of the farm grows an endless list of earthly delights like strawberries, rhubarb, and grapes to tomatoes, basil, potatoes, saffron, and lots of flowers. Seeding begins in the dark days of winter in an 80-degree greenhouse space generously provided by Gateway Garden Center. Michele sowed close to 900 seeds in mid-March, will transplant the thriving seedlings in April, and bring them to the farm in May. The garden will come alive through the work of children and farm education staff sowing seeds and heeling in transplants after the danger of frost has passed.

Thanks to Gateway Garden Center in Hockessin (www.gatewaygardens.com) for the greenhouse space and seeds to help our gardens grow!

Farm Program Coordinator Michele Wales seeding heirloom tomatoes. Photo by Jim Wolfer.

Feed Hay Fields

In late January and early February, Farm Steward, Jim Wolfer keeps his eyes on the ground and ears tuned to weather forecasts. Jim is looking for snow-free acreage and temperatures that reach above the freezing point. During periods of freezing and thawing, Jim will sow the seeds of red clover in our 9-acres of feed hay fields. This is known as frost seeding and is a method that this plant needs for successful germination. By March, on dry ground days, he is mowing down crop “residue” like corn and sunflower stalks from last year as well as spreading our farm-generated compost. By late May he will be mowing the hay, bailing it, and storing over 15 TONS of it in the stone barn to feed our cows and sheep next winter.

Farm Steward Jim Wolfer surveying the winter hayfield. Photo by Dan O’Brien.

Native Warm Season Grass Meadows

In the late fall of 2012, Land Manager Dave Pro was drilling the seeds of over 15 species of native grasses and wildflowers into 25 rolling acres of former agricultural fields. For the last 15 years Dave has been working to transition farm fields into native meadows that provide rich habitat for ground nesting-birds, mammals, and a wide diversity of insects including native pollinators. Gearing up for the growing season, Dave spent hours in March mowing down last year’s growth to open the landscape to the sun’s rays and to control woody shrub invasion. In addition to mowing, these native meadows thrive and excel against competitors through the implementation of fire. Dave schedules the early spring prescribed burn by paying attention to several key factors: wind speed, wind direction, humidity, precipitation, and the emergence of new plant growth. Once these factors have aligned, a regional team of highly trained wildfire fighters descend upon the preserve to artfully and safely employ this management technique. If all of the necessary criteria are met Dave and his skilled crew will be setting fire to 6-acres of well established meadow as early as this Thursday, March 28 or a date to be determined the week of April 1. We invite you to witness this exciting event. Please call 302.239.2334 to register. Space is limited. This very spontaneous offer is FREE with details to be communicated as soon as we have them to share.

Land Manager Dave Pro keeping a few steps ahead of a meadow fire. Photo by Derek Stoner.

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Top Ten Birds from the DNS trip to Cuba

Posted by Joe Sebastiani on March 16, 2013

Posted in: Birds, Travel. Tagged: American Flamingo, Cuba, Cuban Tody, Cuban Trogon, Fernandina's Flicker, Stygian Owl. 2 comments

By Joe Sebastiani, Seasonal Program Team Leader

Photos by Hank Davis, DNS Board Member, Professional Photographer, and one of the 13 skilled avian surveyors on the 2013 Cuba trip.

This February, I had the pleasure of leading my second Delaware Nature Society bird survey trip to Cuba. I led this trip for the first time in November of 2010 and wrote about it extensively on this blog. You can see the previous posts at these links: Cuban Bird Survey, Zapata Swamp, Cueva y Hacienda, Guanacabibes National Park, Valle de Vinales.

We had a similar schedule and agenda when compared to the 2010 trip, which was to visit a variety of national parks, preserves, and other areas to conduct bird surveys with Cuban biologists and ornithologists. Our constant guide and lead biologist was Dr. Giraldo Alayon Garcia, who accompanied the DNS group in 2010. He is the Caribbean’s leading authority on spiders and has described many new species to science. Giraldo is also an excellent birder, biologist, and conservationist. He was on many of the expeditions to document the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Cuba in the 1980′s and saw the bird several times on these long trips.

Our skilled team of 13 avian surveyors (all Delaware Nature Society members) were charged with the task of documenting species in many of Cuba’s most beautiful, wild, and biologically diverse places. We ventured to four National Parks including Peninsula de Guanahacabibes, La Guira, Cienega de Zapata, and Cayo Guillermo. We traveled the entire western half of the island from the far western tip at Maria la Gorda to the Cayo Coco area on the longest archipelago in the western hemisphere. Our data went to the Caribbean Conservation Trust as well as the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

In this post and another one to come, I am going to feature the “Top Ten Cuban Birds” that we found on our surveys. It is a little arbitrary, but I picked these species because they were on our “most wanted list” to see, some of them are very rare, and most of them are Cuban endemics, meaning they only live in Cuba. Since we found about 160 species of birds, picking the top ten was a little difficult, and I risk some disagreement from my group, but I judged the list also partly on what the group told me the wanted to see, as well as their reaction after seeing it.

#10 – Fernandina’s Flicker

Fernandina’s Flicker is a rare woodpecker that only lives in Cuba.

Fernandina’s Flicker is a beautiful, but rare woodpecker that lives in scattered places across Cuba. This Cuban endemic species is estimated to only have a population of about 600-800 birds, making it one of the world’s most endangered woodpeckers. We saw this one at it’s nest in La Guira National Park, at a place called Hacienda Cortina.

#9 – American Flamingo

The American Flamingo is always a popular bird to see in the wild. It is the only Flamingo that lives in North America.

Populations of American Flamingo are doing well on Cuba. We saw them by the hundreds in the Zapata Swamp and the Cayo Coco area, where they feed in shallow lagoons and bays. Flamingos are pretty strange birds. They honk like a goose, and sift their curved bill in the water to filter-feed for small aquatic organisms.

#8 – Cuban Tody

The Cuban Tody is a very small, colorful puffball of a bird that is common in Cuba.

The Cuban Tody is a tiny bird that darts around forests, spotting prey to leap up and snatch with it’s orange bill. They are habitat generalists, which is why they are still common, living in just about any kind of forest. It is a Cuban endemic species, and is difficult to photograph because it is found in low-light conditions, stays in thick vegetation, and moves around quickly. Hank Davis did a superb job photographing this one. Todies only live in the West Indies.

#7 – Cuban Trogon

The Cuban Trogon is the national bird of Cuba. This colorful species of trogon has a strange ratcheted tail, and is common across the island.

Luckily, the Cuban Trogon, another endemic species to Cuba is common across the island. It lives in forested areas at all elevations, and sits very still as it searches for insects, fruit, and flowers to eat. It can hover while it feeds, and nests in cavities in trees. We saw many of them on our bird surveys, but photographing them can be difficult. It is the national bird of Cuba because its colors resemble those on the Cuban flag, with its blue head, white chest, and red belly.

#6 – Stygian Owl

Stygian Owl is a rare sight on Cuba, where it is an endangered species. It is commonly killed on the island, since many people consider it a bad omen.

Stygian refers to “from the River Styx”. The fact that this bird’s name refers to it being from a river in Hades does not help it’s reputation as a bad omen in Cuba. Because of this, it is routinely persecuted on the island, which makes them very difficult to find in the wild. The only places where you have a chance to see one on Cuba is in remote wild areas, such as the Zapata Swamp and Guanahacabibes Peninsula. We found this one at Maria la Gorda, which is a very remote scuba diving resort surrounded by miles of wilderness, far from people. It called one night after dinner, and we were able to find it and photograph it. Stygian Owls live in parts of Central and South America, as well as the Greater Antilles, and are related to Long-eared and Short-eared Owls, its cousins in North America.

Look for part II of the “Top Ten Cuban Birds” post coming up soon, where I will feature numbers 1 through 5.

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