Nature of Delaware Blog

Ian Stewart “You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing about the bird… So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing – that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something…

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe’ These are the opening lines to The Jabberwocky, a poem about a mythical dreadful beast that appears in Lewis Carroll’s 1871 book ‘Through the Looking Glass, and what Alice found there’. The poem contains many bizarre words invented by the author and…

By Megan Kasprzak and Joe Sebastiani. Photos by Shannon Modla Megan and Shannon regularly look for birds at Ashland Nature Center, documenting what they find in eBird, and taking many great photographs.  On 8 June, they witnessed a rather extraordinary ornithological event.  Read on… Notes from Megan Kasprzak at Ashland Nature Center, Monday 8 June,…

Fair warning, this blog might make you itchy.. Everyone and their grandmother knows the age old adage “leaves of three let it be,” but does everyone know exactly which leaves of three? Working in the outdoor field for ten years, I have come across my fair share of poison ivy patches, vines, bushes, and carefully…

I didn’t misspell the title of this blog. It is a word German behavioral scientists coined meaning “migratory restlessness”, referring to a period in the spring and fall when caged, migratory species they were studying repeatedly fluttered towards one side of their cage. The birds just knew it was time to migrate. Almost every day…

By Sheila Vincent, Delaware Nature Society Group Programs Coordinator One look at our “sister planet” (so called because it is closest to us and almost as large) blazing in the evening sky this month will convince you that she is aptly named.  Only the moon outshines her silvery brilliance.  Find her above and to the…