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| Ornithology |
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| Birds
of the Mid-Atlantic Region |
| I don't
have a lifetime bird list or even a record
of what I saw yesterday. Nor will I get
on a plane to Arizona to see one bird. But
I do have feeders outside my home office
window where I can watch a male Carolina
Wren defending its territory and singing
loudly; Northern Cardinals chirping and
foraging; Carolina Chickadees and Tufted
Titmice carefully choosing a plump sunflower
seed and flying to cover; American Goldfinches
feeding on thistle seed; and Ruby-throated
Hummingbirds feeding on the nectar of red
Gladiolus. My favorite bird locations in
the mid-Atlantic region are Bombay
Hook, Brigantine,
Cape May, Conowingo
Dam, Eastern Shore, Hawk
Mountain, Jug
Bay, Mason
Neck, Middle
Creek, Patuxent,
and Tinicum.
Good birding locations on the Eastern Shore
include Cape
Henlopen State Park, DE; Blackwater
and Eastern
Neck National Wildlife Refuges, MD;
and Assateague
Island National Seashore, Kiptopeke
State Park, and Chincoteague
and
Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife
Refuges, VA. Cape Charles, VA and Cape May,
NJ (Cape
May Point State Park and Cape
May National Wildlife Refuge) are geographic
bottlenecks and natural stopping-off places
for migrating neotropical songbirds, waterfowl,
raptors, and monarch butterflies that follow
the waterways. Have a look at Birding.com for other birding hot spots and Flying
Emu for checklists. Take an organized
walk with an expert like Mark
Garland. Groups in the DC area that
sponsor field trips and talks include the
Audubon
Naturalist Society (ANS), MD
Ornithological Society, National
Audubon Society (no relation to ANS),
Northern
VA Bird Club, and VA
Society of Ornithology. |
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