Friday, March 14

Black Scoter photo courtesy of Frode Jacobsen. Harbor and Gray Seals photo courtesy of Rita Modesti.

For Friday, March 14, we are trying two new all-day field trips that are guaranteed to be fun and birdy! In Delaware, we’ll explore the Assawoman Wildlife Area and Fresh Pond just north of the DE/MD state line. In Maryland, we’ll go birding in Dorchester County at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and the Cambridge waterfront. Please note that both field trips require the purchase of access passes for the state and federal lands.

If you are interested in joining us for one of these tours, please scroll down for more information. If you have any questions, please email dmvbirds@gmail.com.

ALL-DAY TRIPS

Assawoman Wildlife Area & Fresh Pond (DRIVING/HIKING)
Time: 8:00 am – 3:30 pm
Cost: $55/person
Meeting Locations:
8:00 am: meet in the large parking lot near 37607 Mulberry Landing Road, Frankford, DE 199454 GPS coordinates: 38.498477, -75.095713
1:30 pm: meet at the trailhead for Fresh Pond, located at the end of Hickman Road in Ocean View, DE 19970. GPS coordinates: 38.563671, -75.072874

Please note: Cost does not include the purchase of a Conservation Access Pass (CAP), which is required by anyone visiting a state wildlife area. The CAP provides needed funding to help the DE Division of Fish and Wildlife maintain and improve public access, facilities, and wildlife habitat in these beautiful refuges.

A 3-day CAP can be purchased for $10 for a Delaware registered vehicle and $20 for an out-of-state registered vehicle. Annual passes are also available, but please note that CAPs purchased now will only be good through June 30, 2025. Annual passes are good July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. For more information about purchasing your Delaware CAP, please click here.

We need a minimum of 10 participants to run this tour. If you are interested, please email dmvbirds@gmail.com with your name and the number in your party. We will open registration after reaching our 10-person minimum.

During the morning, we’ll explore the forested trails and ponds of the Assawoman Wildlife Area. This 3,000+ acre refuge is managed by the State of Delaware for wildlife, and features loblolly pine forest, wildlife food crops, open ponds and marshes along Little Assawoman Bay just north of the DE/MD state line. We’ll do some light hiking on the trails, and we will drive between birding hotspots within the wildlife area. For a sample of the birds currently being observed at the Assawoman Wildlife Area, check out their eBird hotspot.

We’ll take a break for lunch around 11:30 am. There are many great lunch spots in nearby Ocean View and Bethany Beach!

At 1:30 pm, the group will meet at the Hickman Road trailhead for Fresh Pond in Ocean View, DE. This site is managed by Delaware Seashore State Park. We’ll hike the trails searching for songbirds and raptors, and scope the pond for waterfowl. For a sample of the birds currently being observed at Fresh Pond, check out their eBird hotspot.

What goes better together than birds and beers? Here are Dogfish Head’s off-centered ale pairing recommendations for the Winter Delmarva Dogfish BirdINNg Weekend! Please drink responsibly.

60-minute IPA: Brewed using a boatload of intense Northwest hops, we boil this continually hopped IPA for a full 60 minutes, adding more than 60 hop additions continuously to create a bold and timeless flavor. Continually hopped to deliver a pungently, citrusy, grassy hop flavor without being crushingly bitter, 60 Minute IPA is a surprisingly sessionable IPA for the craft enthusiast.

Citrus Squall: Citrus Squall is the perfect storm of a double golden ale and a paloma cocktail brewed with grapefruit juice, blue agave nectar, lime peels and a touch of sea salt, bringing strong gusts of citrusy hop and grapefruit aromas, counterbalanced by a downpouring of bright and tart grapefruit flavor and a blue agave nectar sweetness. 

SeaQuench Ale: Objectively the most refreshing beer we’ve ever brewed, SeaQuench Ale is a session sour mash-up of a crisp Kölsch, a salty Gose and a tart Berliner Weiss brewed in sequence with black limes, sour lime juice and sea salt. The result? A citrusy-tart union that has captured the attention and hearts of beer, wine and margarita drinkers alike!

Avian Influenza Alert:

Recently, H5 avian influenza has been detected in sick and dead Snow Geese on Delmarva. We will be hosting field trips in areas where avian influenza may be present. If you maintain a backyard flock of chickens or work in the poultry industry, you may want to take precautions to minimize the spread of avian influenza. For more information about protecting yourself and your birds from avian influenza, please visit the CDC website.

If you encounter a sick or dead bird, please call these numbers and visit these websites for reporting information:

Please note:

  • No cancellations are accepted after February 28, 2025. For a further explanation of our refund policy, please click here.
  • Trips will go rain or shine, unless torrential rains prevent us from viewing wildlife.
  • If the trip is canceled due to dangerous conditions, we will notify you via email. Please note that the email will be sent to all participants BCC, so you may need to check your email spam folder. A full refund will be provided within 15 days.