Newsletter of the Delaware Ornithological Society
 The Flyer 
Volume 52 | Number 10 | June 2021
Next DOS member meeting: June 16th!
Indigo Bunting by David Lewis.

Letter from the President

 

A profile photo of Michael Moore.

Spring migration is fast disappearing into the rear-view mirror, even though a few late, and usually overlooked, migrants, like Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Mourning Warblers and Black-billed Cuckoos continue to pass through during early June. Most of the nesting birds in my area are gorging on the 17-year cicadas and my driveway is covered in cicada wings which birds remove before eating the cicada. Hopefully, this will be a bonus year for breeding birds in the areas where the cicadas have emerged. 

Some sad news, however, is that it has not been a bonus year for Red Knots in the Delaware Bay. This year recorded the lowest numbers in decades and only about 30% of the number reported last year. This seems to be because of the very late horseshoe crab spawning last year which deprived the migrating Knots of their fuel to finish spring migration. The horseshoe crab spawn this year was a good one and occurred at the right time for the Knots so hopefully they will start to recover. Ruddy Turnstones and Semipalmated Sandpipers, which also depend on horseshoe crab eggs, were also recorded in historically low numbers. We hope the full protection DOS has helped provide for Mispillion Harbor and the crabs that spawn there will aid in the recovery of these species. 

This is the last Flyer of the DOS year. The next one will be emailed in September. I hope you all have a great summer. The grip of the pandemic seems to be loosening but outdoor activities like birding are still a great way to stay safe and relieve stress. Birding has been very popular during the pandemic. The number of rarities reported has skyrocketed as have sales of binoculars. I hope most of the people who picked up birding will continue with the hobby and we welcome all of you to become members of DOS. As we start to resume normal activities, there will be meetings, events and field trips to provide opportunities to learn and make new friends.
 

-Mike Moore, DOS President
Renew your membership now!

June 16 Meeting:

“What’s new about birds on the move? Recent research from the Aeroecology Program at the University of Delaware” by Jeff Buler



Dr. Buler will share highlights of recent and ongoing research by his lab and colleagues in the field of aeroecology; the study of the ecology of flying animals aloft. He will talk about how he uses radar and telemetry technologies to make new discoveries into 1) why and where birds stopover when migrating through the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes regions, 2) how waterfowl in the Delmarva peninsula may play a role for avian influenza transmission risk to poultry, and 3) the movement and roosting ecology of Purple Martins in our region.

Dr. Jeff Buler Josh's portrait of a Purple Sandpiperwas recently elected to the DOS Council. He received his B.A. from St. Mary’s College where he studied biology. He went on to study nesting songbirds for his M.S. research at Louisiana State University and stopover ecology of songbirds using a variety of methods including weather surveillance radar for his dissertation research at The University of Southern Mississippi. In 2011, he joined the faculty at the University of Delaware. Jeff is an international leader in the discovery of novel methods to expand scientific knowledge within the young field of aeroecology focused on the basic and applied ecology of organisms that inhabit the atmosphere. His current research focuses on radar biology, avian ecology and migration, landscape ecology, and conservation biology.

DOS Flyer Archive

Click here to read digital copies of past Flyers.

Delaware Ornithologist Article Request

 
Do you have something to say about birds? The Delaware Ornithologist is looking for articles related to birds in the Delmarva region. Anyone is welcome to submit articles. Past topics have included unusual bird nests, observations of interesting or unusual bird behavior, results of personal research projects or surveys, and description rare bird sightings. If you have an idea for an article please contact Jean Woods, Publication Committee Chair, at [email protected]. Articles should be submitted by 1 July.

Remembering Lloyd L. Falk

                     Lloyd L Falk
In May 2020, DOS member Bob Rufe shared the following about one of our charter members, Lloyd L. Falk, on the DE Birds listserv: “Imagine my surprise listening to the Philadelphia Evening News on 6ABC and hearing a Memorial Day tribute to our own WWII veteran and DOS member, Lloyd Falk, just released from a Richmond, VA area hospital following a two month battle with COVID 19 - and beating it! Lloyd recently turned 100, and it was also reported, sadly, that his wife of 72 years, Eleanor, lost her life to the virus.”

In April, Mr. Falk’s daughter Laurie reached out to DOS with the news that her father had passed away on March 8, 2021. With condolences to Laurie and her brothers David (also a charter member) and Gary, as well as the extended Falk family, we share Bob and Laurie’s remembrances of Lloyd. These memories illustrate how very important he was to the then-fledgling DOS organization. To learn more about Mr. Falk’s remarkable life, you can read his obituary here.

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Lloyd L. Falk – A Remembrance…
“Winter Birding in Northeastern Massachusetts … by Lloyd L. Falk”
“The Delmarva Ornithological society held its first winter birding trip to Northeastern Massachusetts during the last weekend in February, 1969. Since then, we have held a winter trip each year …”

So began the text of an article I referred to annually in preparation for my sojourns after taking over this annual trip from Lloyd in 1983. I met Lloyd upon joining DOS in 1976 and was immediately attracted to this annual Cape Ann trip, as I had only recently been married in Gloucester (1972). We became good friends over many years of birding together, not the least of which were these annual sojourns which Lloyd led until 1982, the year of the Hawk Owl! 

There were several noteworthy traditions, including warnings to dress appropriately, phone calls to rare bird alert hotlines, do-it-yourself cocktail parties, lobster dinners, and always the tally of a Snowy Owl at Plum Island.
However, my most vivid memory is the tradition which Lloyd initiated prior to my participation, and which always stunned first-timers. On Sunday afternoon as we concluded the birding activity, usually at Halibut Point State Park, Rockport, no matter the temperature or weather conditions – subfreezing temps or snow squall – Lloyd prepared for the seven-hour homebound trip by stripping off his thermals and exclaiming, bare-chested, “Farewell ‘til next winter!” It was a remarkable, and surprising, if not pretty, sight. I can still see it! 

See Lloyd’s detailed New England articles in Delmarva Ornithologist, Volume 8, Number 2 (July, 1973) and Volume 14 (1979). 

Lloyd Leopold Falk was engaged with the DOS from its beginning – a Charter Member. He was the original editor of the Delmarva Ornithologist, and his standards are one reason this publication continues today – now the Delaware Ornithologist. He continued as editor until 1990, a dedicated 27 years. Lloyd also authored the Bird Census Surveys of the Hoopes Reservoir Area Monograph Number 1. 

His accomplishments for the Society were many. Here are a few:
1. He was President of DOS, 1967-1969.
2. He was a Fellow, 1973, and Honorary Member, 2008. 
3. He served on the Birds of Delaware Publication Committee.
4. He authored numerous articles in the Delmarva Ornithologist.
5. He presented several programs at DOS meetings.
6. He led many field trips in addition to the New England winter excursions cited above.
7. He was an active participant in many bird surveys conducted by DOS, including Christmas Bird Counts and Spring Round Ups.
8. He served a number of terms on the DOS Council, always providing needed guidance.

Respectfully, Bob Rufe

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Shared by Lloyd’s daughter, Laurie Coulter:
“As you know, my father was a dedicated member of DOS for many years since helping to organize and form DOS in 1964.  My father wanted our family to have a family hobby that we all could do together.  I remember many birding trips to Bombay Hook, Cape Henlopen State Park, and Hawk Mountain growing up.  I cannot remember a time when we went anywhere outdoors that my father didn't have his binoculars with him.  We traveled throughout Canada and the United States camping and birdwatching.
My mother, Eleanor Falk, wrote a piece that was published in a Delaware magazine titled "My Husband the Birdwatcher".  My father traveled often to find a rare or life bird his whole life.  He was dedicated to birding.

When my father had Covid or later when he couldn't go out much because of restrictions, I would talk to my dad on the phone as I walked outside. I would tell him the birds I was seeing and he would listen to the bird sounds through my phone as we walked.  He and I would talk about birding and he would see or hear the birds through my eyes. I still have moments of tears when I think of how frustrating it was for my dad that he couldn't be with me to enjoy the birds together.  I remember as a child, he would listen to bird sounds to help identify birds that he might not always be able to see easily when on birding trips.”

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Thank you to Bob and Laurie for reminding us how important Lloyd’s role was in the Delaware birding community and how birding became a shared passion amongst the Falk family. We commemorate Mr. Falk’s many contributions, and celebrate his example of how birding often creates and strengthens meaningful connections while becoming a lifelong passion.

-Compiled by Meghann Matwichuk, Membership Chair
 

Get to know DOS member
Dr. Jeff Buler!

Jeff (left) and his wife (middle) and son (right) in Alaska.

Dr. Jeff Buler is an Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. As head of the Aeroecology Program, which he founded in 2011, Dr. Buler pioneered an award-winning technique to use the national network of weather surveillance radars to map stopover distributions of birds across large regions. He has 46 scientific publications about avian ecology, particularly focused on bird stopover and migration ecology, and has mentored 38 undergraduate research students, 10 MS and 3 PhD students, and 4 post doctoral researchers. Dr. Buler has recently been elected to serve as a DOS Council Member-at-Large beginning this June.

How long have you been a DOS member? 
I first became a DOS member for a brief time in 2008 shortly after starting work at University of Delaware. However, I've been a consistent member with DOS since 2018. 

What is the best thing about being a part of DOS?
My favorite thing about DOS is being a part of a friendly community of people that share their passion for birds and foster a love of nature with others. It's the multi-generational interactions among birders of all ages within DOS that keeps us all thriving and young at heart! 

Do you have a ‘spark’ bird?
My spark bird is the White-breasted Nuthatch. My grandmother loved birds. She had several bird feeders hanging from a large oak tree outside her kitchen window. As I young child, when my family would visit her, I would stare out the window and watch the birds while she cooked and talked to my parents about adult things. One day I saw this unusual bird hopping down the trunk of the tree head first and making a strange honking sound. I just had to know what that bird was - I had never seen a bird doing such strange things. So, I interrupted my grandmother to ask her what it was. That was the first bird I remember being able to identify. Noticing my interest, my grandmother taught me the names of all the birds at the feeders after then and started me down the path of becoming an ornithologist.   

What is your favorite bird and why?
My favorite bird is the Swallow-tailed Kite - so much so that it's featured prominently on the Aeroecology Program lab logo. I spent a summer working in the swamps of the Pascagoula River in Mississippi finding and monitoring some of the first documented kite nests and conducting population surveys for kites by boat and plane. Their acrobatics and striking plumage amazed me. I would watch them crash into the tops of trees to pluck off wasp nests and then pull the wasp larvae out of the nest while on the wing.

Do you have a favorite birding patch?
I grew up in Maryland, but took a field trip to Bombay Hook NWR when I was 16 for my high school biology class. My teacher, Kermit Updegrove, was an avid birder and assigned his students to draw at least 40 bird species that they saw in the wild during the school year. That was the beginning of my bird life list. I was immediately enamored with Bombay Hook as I exited the bus at the visitor center and was greeted with the spectacle of a thousand Snow Geese honking and flying overhead. It is the home to my first views of many bird species and the patch I've been birding the longest (>30 years). I make at least two annual trips to Bombay Hook: one to participate in the Christmas Bird Count with UD students during the winter, and one with my Wildlife Habitat Management class in the fall. I even took my pregnant wife birding there for her first time a week before she delivered our son!

Do you have a favorite book about birds, bird website or bird app?
An influential book for me was "The Beak of the Finch" by Jonathan Weiner. It is about the long-time research of Peter and Rosemary Grant documenting natural selection and evolution of Galapagos finches happening almost by the hour. I read it in 1995, right after I graduated from college during my first field job and it inspired me to seek out grad school. 

What’s the farthest you’ve traveled to bird or see a particular bird? 
The photo I've shared is of a trip to Alaska with my family in 2019. It's from a boat trip we took on Prince William Sound where we saw several alcid species like Tufted Puffin, Parakeet Auklet, and Pigeon Guillemot. It's the farthest I've traveled in the US to see birds. The farthest I've traveled globally was to northern China, where I saw beautiful birds like Azure-winged Magpie, Yellow-billed Grosbeak, and Light-vented Bulbul in late 2019 (also saw Spotted Lanternfly in it native range, ha!). However, my most eventful trip was to see the Resplendent Quetzal in the rain forests of Panama. My then-girlfriend and I had some time off from our summer research work in Panama as grad students to explore around the country. It was our last day and we wanted to find a quetzal. We hired a driver to drop us off at the top of a mountain. We planned to hike a 6-hour trail down through the forest that eventually led to a town where we'd catch a bus back to our research site. After uneventfully hiking for about 3-4 hours down a very steep trail, we came across a clearing in the cloud forest and finally came upon a quetzal across the clearing. It was a spectacular but brief sight! After the quetzal left, we continued down the trail, happy with our success. But, about ten minutes later, the trail ended at a ramshackle hut in a field with a few cattle. It seemed we had gotten off the main trail at some point and followed a private trail that led to the cow pasture (and the quetzal). It was late afternoon and we couldn't turn back because the trail was too steep and we were carrying heavy backpacks. Despair set in at that point. Smart phones hadn't yet been invented to show us where we were with GPS or to phone for help. So, we spent a few more hours bushwhacking in search for the main trail with no success. At one point during the search, my partner slid down a stream bank and soaked herself and her backpack. I helped pull her out and we both got quite muddy in the process. Since night was fast approaching, we decided to hike back to the hut, dry out, and sleep the night there. Despite being in Panama during the summer, it got so cold during the night at high elevation (~40 degrees F) that we had to put on every bit of clothing we had brought with us for the week to stay warm (we had no sleeping bags). At dawn the next morning, we were greeted by the cows sticking their heads through a window of the hut. They were either looking for some hay or wondering why there were two muddy ornithologists in their hut with 7 layers of clothes on. We thought following the nearby stream would lead us into town or cross a road eventually. After about 3 hours of bushwhacking along the stream we intercepted the main trail we had been hunting for. We were ecstatic and hurried our way to the bus stop that took us into town. We ended up booking a room in the finest hotel ($50 a night) and had our clothes laundered, ordered room service, and watched a movie at the hotel's private movie theater. It all worked out in the end, but I now mostly remember the harrowing events after the seeing the quetzal rather the splendor of the bird itself. If anyone want to go see a quetzal in Panama I know where to find one, but be sure to bring a sleeping bag, a machete, and some hay for the cows.

Do you create bird-related art?
Yes! I have a persistent love of bird and nature related art. Although I only dabble in creating art nowadays, I nearly pursued an art major in college. I wanted to meld my love of art and science and become a scientific illustrator. I really enjoy watercolor and pen-and-ink mediums. My house is filled with art that I buy from local artists whenever I travel or receive as gifts from fellow ornithologists (many scientists have great artistic talents!). Last year, I had time during Covid lockdown to paint this watercolor of a Marsh Wren as a gift for a close friend and colleague who worked in my lab for nine years. 

A drawing of a Marsh Wren by Jeff Buler.

What advice would you give to someone newly interested in birds?
Seek out others who already know how to identify birds and where to find them. I had my grandmother and my high school biology teacher to teach me the ropes. Studying field guides and listening to recordings of calls and songs is helpful too, but the camaraderie of fellow birders makes it more fun and productive. Oh - and invest in some good optics. I went through many pairs of shoddy department store binoculars before I invested in a nice pair of Leica binoculars in grad school that I'm still using after 25 years. Foggy, unfocused, heavy, poor-magnification binos can sap your motivation for birding fast.
 

Bird-a-thon Stories


The 2021 Bird-a-thon is now over! Thanks everyone for participating, and see you again next year!


The ROAD RUNNERS completed the day on a cold and windy May 9 with 121 species! Photo above taken at the Dupont Nature Center.
 
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The New Castle County Corvids (Sally O’Byrne, Mike Smith, Sheila Smith, Curt Davis plus Hannah Small of DWL) decided to try something different for DBAT this year. Rather than having their goal simply be to find the most birds possible, they focused on properties, not open to the public, that are owned and managed by Delaware Wild Lands, Inc. (DWL). DWL has several properties in New Castle County that are between Route 9 and the Delaware Bayshore, and their team had the good fortune to get access to three of them;  the end of Cedar Swamp road, the Roberts Farm on Staves Landing Road, and the Fortner property near Port Penn, which will be purchased by DWL in June with the help of Bird-A-Thon funds.  

The New Castle Corvids began the day at dawn at end of Cedar Swamp Road, where they met Hannah Small, DWL’s New Castle County Land Steward. Hannah met them at the gate to the DWL property and led them to where the morning sun shone on the tall trees lining the driveway - the heat activated the insects and gave food to the hungry migrants. They were pleased with N. Parulas, Black-and-White, Black-throated Blue, Yellow and Yellow-rumped warblers, American Restart, and a gorgeous Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The woodlands backed up to a tidal wetland and we heard a Clapper Rail greet the morning with its ‘Keks and Grunts’.  A late N. Harrier roamed the far field, and a surprise flyover of two Common Loons was icing on this avian cake!

From there, they traveled to the DWL Roberts Farm which has both deciduous woodlands, open fields and abuts Hangman’s Creek. They got some nice looks at shorebirds, including a nice comparison of Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers. They also picked up a couple of duck species, as they left Hangman’s Creek, a flock of 27 Glossy Ibis rose into the sky. At the farmhouse they got both Bluebirds and a Phoebe, but they missed the Barn Owl, which often nests in the silo next to the barn. Down the road, they spied a Cliff Swallow, which was a lucky find.

Their last DWL property was the Fortner property, the target of this year’s Bird-A-Thon. They walked a rickety boardwalk through the wetlands, and found gorgeous Savannah Sparrows as well as Swamp and Song Sparrows, a few Black Ducks, many Mute Swans, and a variety of egrets and herons. From there they traveled to the mature deciduous woods on the property where they picked up some warblers: Blackpoll, Wilson’s, and Chestnut-sided, and a variety of other songbirds like E. Towhee, Great-crested Flycatcher, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Wood Thrush.

"Because we focused on the amazing properties that are not open to the public, we discovered places with tidal freshwater wetlands and impoundments and old growth forest. Meadows and farm fields gave us field birds like Horned Lark and Field Sparrow, and we saw a wide variety of shorebirds, herons, and egrets on the wetlands. Delaware Wildlands is managing their properties for both game and non-game species, and we were quite fortunate to witness some glorious results. However, due to that focus, we didn’t travel to some of the places we have been in past years and didn’t get some of the birds we managed to find, especially in 2019. But all of us were quite pleased with the balance of the day and the results of what we found - 102 species." - Sally O'Byrne

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Thanks for sharing your Delaware Bird-a-thon stories! See you next year!

-Katie Bird, Flyer Editor
Tree Swallows by David Lewis.

Access Pass Reminder


Don't forget: Conservation Access Passes expire at the end of June! These passes are required to visit state wildlife areas such as Augustine (including Ashton Tract), Assawoman, Cedar Swamp, and Woodland Beach.
 
The cost to renew your pass is $32.50 for Delaware vehicles and $65.00 for out-of-state vehicles. Click here to get your pass!
Peregrine Falcon by David Lewis.
"The global eBird community achieved another major milestone on Global Big Day: 1 billion bird observations!" Click to read more.
- Your backyard bird feeding specialist -

"All the blue birds love Hot Pepper Bark Butter Bits but squirrels don't" 
Wild Birds Unlimited-Hockessin 
Open Monday to Saturday 9 am to 5 pm.

       

Lancaster Pike & Yorklyn Road
Hockessin, DE
(302)-239-9071
www.wbu.com/hockessin

Bird ID Pop Quiz!
What's this bird? Click here for the answer.
Photo by David Lewis.

DOS Backyard Birding Challenge

Aaron Reb's reign continues this month, leading the rankings by 16 species!

The next three ranks also remain unchanged, with Andrew Dunn in second, Sharon Lynn in third and Jeff Kietzmann in fourth. 

Don't let the summer lull get you down: the birds are still out there!

Compete by submitting eBird checklists from your own yard. Learn more here.
*Rankings as of June 9, 2021.

Member Photo Gallery

Bobolink by David Lewis. Cattle Egret and Green Heron by Mike Moore. Barred Owl by Katie Bird.
Want to see your photos in the Flyer? Submit them to [email protected]!
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