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Migratory Birds Flock Along the Delaware Coast Every Winter

2/11/2012

2 Comments

 
Wildlife Refuges Along the Delaware Coast 
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Superflocks of Migratory Birds Fly in Synchrony Along the Delaware Coast 

The coastal areas of the Delaware Bay and the Delaware Atlantic Seashore are excellent birding spots. Birdwatchers from around the nation migrate along with the migratory birds to watch the amazing flight patterns of synchronous flocking. It is in these very large groupings of birds that birdwatchers get a chance to spot the unusual species that often elude them at other times of the year. 
 
What are superflocks? According to the Public Broadcasting Service's website (www.pbs.org), superflocks are composed of thousands of birds of one species or several compatible species who fly together in synchronous patterns for the protection of the flock, to search for food, to seek warmth, or because of kinship. The synchronous patterns result from instinctive rules about flight: Stay a precise distance away from the surrounding neighbors and stay aligned with the nearest neighbors during flight. To view a superflock taking off or landing, or performing an amazing oblique turn without a single collision, is an awesome sight. 

Delaware's two national wildlife preserves, Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, east of Milton, DE, and Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, east of Smyrna, DE, provide some of the best birding habitat along the East Coast. During January, February, and March, superflocks of Canadian geese, snow geese, tundra swans, blackbirds, red-winged blackbirds, grackles, and starlings converge on the marshes, farm fields, area parks, and residents' yards. 

Watching the synchronous landing of a superflock of blackbirds into a nearby marsh, only to discover that every one of them are suddenly hidden from sight, humbles the best of the veteran East Coast birdwatchers.  
 





2 Comments
Stacey
2/16/2012 11:12:34 am

Thanks for the information about Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. I'm a western PA birder and it's on my next travel list!

Reply
Patti Phillips link
2/24/2012 07:33:48 am

What a neat idea to include the wildlife refuge areas on the map. :-)

Reply



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    Dr. Norene Moskalski can often be found walking the beaches of the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, collecting sea glass, weathered minerals, unusual shells, and artifacts from colonial shipwrecks. A naturalist and environmentalist by nature, and a medical diagnostician by avocation, she has a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and has held administrative and teaching positions at Penn State University and Temple University. She has spent most of her life preparing administrators and teachers to lead and teach ethically with love and respect for everyone. The settings for her novels are authentic vignettes from university campuses and places around the world she has visited. Each novel presents a variation on a theme, using literary techniques and musical innuendos to move the action forward. Her plots revolve around the unexpected: What if the most beautiful things in the world are the most dangerous?

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