Friday, Feb. 27
Registration is open! All reservations will be confirmed via email. No cancellations after February 13, 2026. Trips are subject to weather cancellations.
Make the Dogfish INN your Basecamp for Winter BirdINNg! Pair your birding adventure with a stay at the Dogfish INN in historic downtown Lewes, and visit Dogfish Head’s off-centered world before and after your field trips at the at the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, and Brewings & Eats and Chesapeake & Maine in Rehoboth Beach.
ALL-DAY FIELD TRIPS
Beach to Bay Hotspots: Indian River Inlet to Prime Hook NWR (DRIVING/HIKING)
Time: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Cost: $55/person
Guides: Russ Kovach & Jim Rapp
Meeting Location: South jetty of the Indian River Inlet, DE, near Big Chill Beach Club, 27099 Coastal Hwy, Bethany Beach, DE 19930. GPS coordinates: 38.607106, -75.062124
During this new all-day trip, we’ll explore some of Coastal Delaware’s best birding hotspots from the Atlantic beaches to the Delaware bayshore. We’ll stop for lunch at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats in Rehoboth Beach, and end the day at the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton. The trip will involve a car caravan and short, easy walks between stops along the ~25-mile driving route.
We’ll meet at 8:00 am at the Indian River Inlet, where we’ll scope the Atlantic for sea ducks, loons and Great Cormorants. We’ll make stops at Tower Road near Dewey Beach and Silver Lake in Rehoboth before breaking for lunch around 11:30 am.
After lunch, we’ll caravan from Rehoboth to Oyster Rocks Road to scan the saltmarsh for harriers and herons. The next stop is Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, where we’ll enjoy a short afternoon hike along the trails through woods and wetlands. We’ll end the day with a quick stop at Wagamons Pond in Milton before wrapping up the tour at 4:00 pm. After the tour, you’re invited to join your guides at the Dogfish Head Brewery for a flight of off-centered ales!
There are no fees for park or refuge entry in late February. Participants will drive their own vehicles. Total driving distance for this all-day tour is between 25-30 miles, and total hiking should not exceed four miles along mostly flat, compact trails. Lunch and beverages are not included in the cost for this trip.
Delaware Bayshore – Bowers Beach to Port Mahon (DRIVING/HIKING)
Time: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Cost: $55/person (please note that this trip requires a Delaware Conservation Access Pass; scroll down for more information)
Guides: Chris Bennett & Anthony Gonzon
Meeting Location: the parking lot at the Bowers Beach Boat Ramp (intersection of Clinton Cubbage Road and Cooper Ave. in Bowers, DE GPS coordinates: 39.058611, -75.398910
We’ll meet in the morning at the parking lot of the Bowers Beach Boat Ramp, where we will bird the area between the mouth of the Murderkill and St. Jones Rivers. We will then travel to the nearby Buckaloo Tract and Vance Morris Tract of the Ted Harvey Wildlife Area. We will break for lunch around noon. You can join your guides at the The Brick – Wood Fired Eats, located at 150 Gateway South Boulevard in Dover, DE, or dine on your own.
After lunch, we will bird the Wildlife Areas along Rt 9 including Little Creek Main Tract and possibly Pickering Beach and end the day searching the marsh along Port Mahon Road for Short-eared Owls.
This field trip requires a Conservation Access Pass (CAP). Participants will drive their own vehicles. Total driving distance for this all-day tour is between 20-25 miles, and total hiking should not exceed four miles along the beach and mostly flat, compact trails. Lunch and beverages are not included in the cost for this trip.
Birding at Delaware Wildlife Areas requires a Conservation Access Pass (CAP).
Conservation Access Pass (CAP): Participants must purchase a Conservation Access Pass (CAP), which is required for any vehicle visiting a Delaware state wildlife area. The CAP provides needed funding to help the Delaware 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. Only one CAP is required per vehicle. Annual passes are also available, and are valid July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. For more information about purchasing your Delaware CAP, please click here.
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!
Please note:
- No cancellations are accepted after February 13, 2026. 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.