Sussex birding

By Christina Weaver
Special to the Coastal Point

	Coastal Point Photos• CHRISTINA WEAVER Members of the Sussex Bird Club take a look at some feathered friends last weekend.

Gordon looks the part, according to club members. Tall, bearded and in his early 40s, he stood jacketless before the assembled cluster of predominantly retirees — fully clad in multiple layers yet still shivering in the 30-degree bite of early morning — and jovially described the weather as “bracing.”

The first stop of the morning was at Cape Henlopen State Park. Standing on the cliff at Herring Point with binoculars in hand or high-intensity scopes perched on the ground, the group took in the view, picked out landmarks (including the distant Cape May lighthouse) and focused on birds.

“See them with your eyes first, then your binoculars,” novices were instructed by Gordon’s wife, Liz, whose “job” was to share the contents of the reference guide whenever a new bird was sighted.

A gaggle of surf scoters appeared before the birders. Gordon pointed out the white patch on the crown and nape that distinguish the surf scoter from its cousin the black scoter, whose bill has a distinctive golden yellow knob on top. The scoters winter in the area from their summer arctic habitat. “Watch the males,” Gordon said. “See their tail feathers standing up. That’s courting behavior.”

On the coast at Cape Henlopen, the group also spotted red-breasted mergansers, snow buntings (familiarly called snow bunnies), red-throated and common loons, and ruddy turnstones. Within the park, Gordon heard a brown-headed nuthatch. Imitating the bird with a series of squeaky piping whistles, he was able to lure the bird from its pine tree home for a quick sighting.

The next stop was the marina at West Bay Park in Angola Neck, off Route 24. Gordon brought the club to that location for the purpose of viewing a red-necked grebe. The birds are only sighted this far south every two to three years, and for many club members the opportunity to see the red-necked grebe swimming along side its more common cousin, the horned grebe, was a first, and quite a treat.

At Silver Lake in Rehoboth Beach, the group enjoyed the close proximity of scores of silvery-gray plumed canvasback ducks. “This is the best place in Delaware and perhaps the country to see ‘cans,’” noted Gordon. He then pointed out a redhead on the other side of the lake.

“See the gray roof, then go left to the pole, follow your eye down from the bank and just past the two Canada geese — there it is. Do you see it?” When later someone pointed out a bird that looked like another redhead, Gordon looked carefully and instead identified it as a ruddy duck. Though they are similar in appearance, he informed them, the redhead has golden-colored eyes whereas ruddy ducks’ eyes are ruby-red.

Then there were the greater and lesser scaups (the lesser ones have pointy heads) and plenty of good old black ducks that are actually brown and close relatives of the familiar mallard.

“Jeff is such a good guide,” confided birder Carole Toomey who lives in Bay View Park. “He has the ability to informally talk and teach without you realizing how much you are learning. And he doesn’t just know birds, on one field trip we saw a dragon fly and he made them sound so interesting.”

Indeed, Gordon is a nationally recognized naturalist. He is field editor for Bird Watcher’s Digest, associate director for the Delaware Nature Society, based at Abbott’s Mill Nature Center in Milford, and a former field trip leader for five years with the renowned Victor Emanuel Nature Tours. In December, Gordon was selected as one of the team of ornithologists that went to the swamps of Arkansas in search of the almost extinct ivory-billed woodpecker.

“We are lucky to have great guides,” said Seaford’s Bill Beiser, who is the editor of the 150-member Sussex Bird Club’s “Newspiper.” Beiser noted that several club members had recently returned from a birding excursion to Panama. “Our meetings are in the afternoon of the second Sunday of every month at Prime Hook. Photos from our Panama trip will be the topic of our February meeting,” he said. The newsletter, field trips and meetings are all benefits of belonging to the club, with annual dues of $7 for an individual or $10 for a family.

The final stop of the day was at the Indian River Inlet. Jean Shaw of Bethany Beach intently watched the profusion of birds of all kinds through her binoculars. In addition to seeing more surf scoters, there were black scoters, long tail ducks, brants, purple sandpipers and cormorants.

“Bird watching has become a daily hobby,” Shaw said. “As well as the field trips and watching the birds who come to my feeder, I do the hawk watches in the spring and fall, and I check on nesting plovers.” She added, “Birding has become part of my life.”

To learn more about the Sussex Bird Club, call (302) 945-2025.