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Birding Adventure with NYC Audubon
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This was my first birding expedition. I boarded the NYC Audubon van on an early Friday morning in May for a tree-day adventure that would take us through Delaware Maryland and Virginia. A bonified neophyte left in the visual dust of the others. Before this my birding was just about limited to Gulls, Sandpipers, Egrets, Herons, Canada geese and the magnificent Cardinal that visits my garden.
One may very well ask why I joined an expedition with its inherent intimidation and the formality that accompanies Birding etiquette. But I found everyone to be gracious and willing to share their scope and point out a bird. It was thrilling when I saw a bird through binoculars or scope and marveled at the detail and power of nature; the array of color, mating, feeding rituals and flight patterns. I heard a Pileated Woodpecker. However, I did not see it.
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Every evening over a filling dinner the birders pulled out their lists and passionately shared their discoveries. We injected life into Olive Gardens Restaurants along the way. The wilderness and the opportunity to see wildlife in their natural habitat was my lure. I walked boardwalks, wind -swept marsh, forest, a nature conservancy, climbed a makeshift lookout, passed beautiful farm country and not so aromatic chicken farms, llama and sheep. I saw lush red poppies dividing the road and flowers in crème and yellow and startling patches of blues.
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For me the highlight was Little Creek in Delaware where I saw hundreds of shore birds migrating and hungrily fishing horse shoe crab eggs. To the untrained or unsuspecting eye the Sandpipers looked like pebbles on the beach. If I were not birding I would not have seen them. After Little Creek the Sandpipers will make the arduous trip to the Arctic. The quantity feeding on horseshoe crabs at Bombay Hook was fantastic. Our guide did not remember seeing so many shore birds. Still the Red Knot was conspicuously missing which according to the U.S. Shoreline Conservation Plan is a species of high concern.
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I saw Wild Horses on Assateague Island. The horses are rumored to be survivors of a shipwreck and are adapted to live on a barrier island. I saw fragile pink lady slippers growing in the forest, wild strawberries in the fields, Bottlenose Dolphins as we crossed the ferry to Cape May. Bombay Hook affords the premier breeding on the east coast. Our incredible guide, Joe Giunta, was interested in quality not quantity. Still the weekend’s count was 107 species. The most experienced birder along said” I just look. I don‘t count.”
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I viewed Purple Martins, Gold Finches, Barn Swallows a Yellow Warbler. A woman in the group knew bird calls. The Yellow Warbler’s call was “sweet, sweet, sweet could be a little more sweet, I saw the Dunlin Black-bellied Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher. I saw the Laughing Gulls and Ruddy Turnstone; Indigo Bunting startling blue in the sunlight and a Blue bird nestled deep in the trees. Our guide saw a Mississippi Kite, which was a life bird for him.
Nicole Delacretaz, the photographer and co-pilot on the trip, explained why the female is less colorful than the male because she must sit on the nest and in her vulnerability must not attract attention. I asked Nicole why she started birding.
“I’m a nature girl. In N.Y.C. the wildlife I will encounter is birds. Twice a year I encounter the amazing phenomenon of migration. That N.Y.C. is on the flight route makes it unique. I feel as if the birds sing to me. There is nothing between you and the birds. Take away all technicalities and just watch it, watch it with admiration.”
For me, the sound of a bird will never be the same. This birding expedition was a life experience.
Maxine Hedrington
To join a NYC Audubon Adventures, visit our Trips & Classes webpage!!
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