AmericanCoot

Photo Study Of Birds At Bombay Hook NWR, Smyrna, DE, November 9th, 2011

Ed Norman and I were able to get to Bombay Hook yesterday and despite the morning fog still got lots of photographs. Here are some of them...

White-crowned Sparrow At The Nature Center

Savannah Sparrow At Raymond's

American Avocets Fly By At Shearness

Pied-billed Grebe At Bear Swamp

Least Sandpiper At Raymond's

Semipalmated Sandpiper At Raymond's

Red Fox At Bear Swamp (We Saw At Least Four Different Foxes At The Refuge Today)

Turkey Vultures At Taylor's Gut

Red Phase Eastern Screech-Owl In A Box On The Road Coming Out Of Bear Swamp

And for comparative purposes here are three Screech-Owl photos taken previously:

                                                                                           Gray Phase Eastern Screech-Owl In
                                                                                            A Box At Peace Valley Park 2010

                                        Red Phase Eastern Screech-Owl                               Western Screech-Owl Phoenix, AZ, 2008
                                               Kleinfeltersville, PA, 2008

    The Eastern Screech-Owl (Otus asio) has an average body length of 7 to 9 inches, a wingspan of 18 to 24 inches, and weighs 5 to 9 ounces. The
    Eastern Screech-Owl is slightly smaller than the Western Screech-Owl. The Eastern Screech-Owl has a diet consisting mainly of insects, small
    mammals, birds, crayfish, and earthworms. Their hunting strategy is to survey prey from a perched position then swoop down to catch the prey,
    or forage while walking along the ground. The Eastern Screech-Owl is also known to eat a variety of songbirds, including the European Starling.
    Despite this fact, the starling regularly displaces the owl from nesting sites and takes over the hole to raise its own brood. The Eastern
    Screech-Owl nests in natural tree cavities, old woodpecker holes, or man-made nest boxes. The female lays 3 - 7 eggs that are incubated for 26
    days. Both parents feed the young owls. The owlets will leave the nest in about 25 - 27 days, but will be tended by the parents for another 5 - 6
    weeks. Screech-Owls can reproduce at 1 year of age. Red and gray individuals occur across the range of the Eastern Screech-Owl, with about
    one-third of all individuals being red. Rufous owls are more common in the East, with fewer than 15% red at the western edge of the range. No
    red owls are known from southern Texas, although they occur further north in Texas and further south in Mexico. Intermediate brownish
    individuals also occur in most populations. (Cornell BNA; Wikipedia; Sibley Guide To Birds)

And finally, the photograph below shows Matthew DeBona, DNREC Wildlife Biologist, with his team on an
Air Boat in Shearness, conducting their waterfowl habitat research under the auspices of the UDEL and USFWS.

    Species Seen Today:

Canada Goose	American Coot	Blue Jay
American Black Duck	Black-bellied Plover	American Crow
Mallard	American Avocet	Golden-crowned Kinglet
Northern Shoveler	Greater Yellowlegs	American Robin
Northern Pintail	Ruddy Turnstone	Eastern Bluebird
Green-winged Teal	Semipalmated Sandpiper	Northern Mockingbird
Ruddy Duck	Western Sandpiper	European Starling
Pied-billed Grebe	Least Sandpiper	American Pipit
Double-crested Cormorant	Dunlin	Cedar Waxwing
Great Blue Heron	Ring-billed Gull	Yellow-rumped Warbler
Great Egret	Great Black-backed Gull	Savannah Sparrow
Black Vulture	Royal Tern	Song Sparrow
Turkey Vulture	Rock Dove	White-crowned Sparrow
Bald Eagle	Mourning Dove	Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Harrier	Eastern Screech Owl	Red-winged Blackbird
Sharp-shinned Hawk	Belted Kingfisher	Common Grackle
Red-tailed Hawk	Red-bellied Woodpecker	House Finch
American Kestrel	Downy Woodpecker	American Goldfinch
Peregrine Falcon	Northern Flicker	House Sparrow

To see a larger image of any of the photos below, please click on either the thumbnail or the caption...thanks!


AmericanCoot	GBH	Green-wingedTealHen	NorthernShovelers	Dunlins

GreaterYellowlegs	GreaterYellowlegs	BlackVulture	LeastSandpiper	Peeps

SemipalmatedSandpiper	NorthernMockingbird	PeregrineFalcon	AmericanCrow	AmericanRobin

BlueJay	SavannahSparrow	White-crownedSparrow	Ring-billedGull	Ring-billedGull2

RoyalTern

Howard B. Eskin 2011 Please click here to email your comments to hbeskin@voicenet.com Please click here to go back to Bird Webpage Index