Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Bombay Hook - Delaware

This was rather dedicated to 'my' motorized chair at the Johns Hopkins then for recreation, but because on Saturday they suddenly switched off all the lights, making it impossible to continue working, we decided to go on a trip to the coast.

This time it took us to the neighboring state of Delaware, where we wanted to hike the 8.5 mile double loop at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. But when we started off for the hike and stopped in a wood with a hidden shelter for birdwatching we painfully discovered we were not alone - we all of a sudden were surrendered by myriads of BIIIIIG bugs - and we had no bug net with us. I mean: it was really bad and at the time of writing this I have about 20 big red bites, some of the size of almost a tennis ball.

So far so good, but now the good news: Bombay Hook is anyway better visited by car because birdwatching is easier when you remain in the car, animals usually accept the presence of cars but feel disturbed when approached by on foot. So we drove through the refuge just to discover that the birding season has just begun and that we definitely have to return a bit later the year when all the migratory birds have arrived then. At the moment, there are mostly herons to be seen, together with ducks, goose, gulls and hawks.

After visiting the refuge, we continued driving to the south to the beaches of Dover were we finished our Sunday.



A heron in a tree.



A cormorant resting and drying on a piece of wood. It is even believed that cormorants - which are seabirds, just to note that - lack a waterproof plumage and that the waters comes to their skin. The good thing about their technique is that they are excellent divers, but the bad thing is that in order to stay warm and dry they have to dry their feathers in the wind first after each dive - and I really don't know how they keep dry in wet weather then. Maybe it's just a joke amongst birders.. I don't know.



A neck like a snake.



Booooring.





Another heron looking for fish.



Nope. This was nothing though.



Dover Beaches.










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