Sunday, March 16

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

MORNING TRIP

Ocean City Inlet, Sunset Park and Skimmer Island (DRIVING/HIKING)
Time: 8:00 – 11:00 am
Cost: $30/person
Meeting Location: We’ll meet along the sea wall at the Hugh T. Cropper Inlet Parking Lot, located at 809 S Atlantic Ave, Ocean City, MD 21842. GPS coordinates: 38.324890, -75.087035

Please note: Parking is free at the Hugh T. Cropper Inlet Parking Lot from Nov. 1 – March 31.

We will begin this tour at the Ocean City Inlet, which is a channel where water flows into and out of the Sinepuxent Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. The Inlet was formed during a massive storm in August of 1933; prior to that time, the fledgling town of Ocean City was connected by land to what is now Assateague Island. Sea ducks and shorebirds can be found feeding and roosting on the inlet’s rock jetties. From the inlet, we’ll walk to the 0.7-acre Sunset Park, sandwiched between a U.S. Coast Guard Station and a commercial property. Most of Sunset Park is paved or boardwalked, but there are some tiny beds of native plants, and there is a platform providing a good view of a sandy beach and the water of Sinepuxent Bay. Here you can get nice looks at loons, diving ducks, and maybe Brant. After walking back to our vehicles, we’ll drive a short distance over the Route 50 bridge to scope the mud flats around what is left of Skimmer Island.

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 January 15, 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.