Saturday, Feb. 28

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

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.

BOAT TRIP

Scoters & Seals Cruise (LEWES BOAT TOUR)
Time: 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
Cost: $72/person (includes tip for First Mate)
Guides: Chris Bennett, Anthony Gonzon, Russ Kovach & Jim Rapp
Meeting Location: Fisherman’s Wharf 107 Anglers Rd, Lewes, DE 19958. GPS Coordinates: 38.776829, -75.137510

Update (posted at 1:45 pm on Thurs., Feb. 26): The Feb. 28 cruise is sold out. We are running a Scoters & Seals cruise on Sunday, March 1, from 1:00 – 3:30 pm. Click here to register.

Join us for a 2.5-hour cruise of the waters around the mouth of the Delaware Bay aboard the Thelma Dale V. The boat features a heated cabin, benches along the lower deck rail, and a top deck for open-air viewing. We will visit the two stone breakwaters and the ice breakers in search of common and rare waterfowl and seabirds including gulls, cormorants, gannets, loons, scoters, eiders and with luck a Harlequin Duck or Razorbill. We also have a good chance of seeing Harbor and Gray Seals that regularly haul out on the rocks. Restrooms are available on board, and coolers (with off-centered ales from Dogfish Head) are welcome!

We are coordinating the boat trip with low tide, which will offer better views of the seals hauled out on the lower breakwater rocks. Low tide for Lewes on February 28 is 12:26 pm.

Harbor and Gray Seal photos courtesy of Sherry Abbott.

TALLY RALLY & FIRESIDE CHAT

Tally Rally & Fireside Chat at the Dogfish INN
Time: 2:30 – 3:30 pm
Cost: free, but RSVP is required at dmvbirds@gmail.com
Speakers: Margot Madden, Animal Rescue Manager, and Maddie Welch, Response Biologist, with the National Aquarium’s Animal Rescue program
Meeting Location: The Dogfish INN, located at 105 Savannah Road, Lewes, DE 19958. We may host the Tally Rally inside or outside around the Cowboy Cauldron, so please dress for the weather! GPS Coordinates: 38.775121, -75.137909

Please note: the Dogfish INN parking lot is for guests only, but there is a public parking lot conveniently located across the street. If you parked at Fisherman’s Wharf (near The Wheelhouse restaurant) for the 11:30 am – 2:00 pm Scoters & Seals cruise, you may leave your vehicle there and walk across the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal bridge to the Dogfish INN.

Margot Madden (left) and Maddie Welch

The Winter Delmarva Dogfish BirdINNg Weekend is more than a great opportunity to see unique local birds…it is also a time to meet unique local birders! Birders will enjoy complimentary samples of Dogfish Head craft ales and good company at the Dogfish INN. Help tally species observed during the field trips, and learn about local birding hotspots.

We’ll be joined around the fire by Margot Madden, Animal Rescue Manager, and Maddie Welch, Response Biologist, to learn more about our local seal species and the work they do with the National Aquarium’s Animal Rescue program. The program is federally permitted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to respond to stranded marine mammals and sea turtles along Maryland’s 3,190 miles of coastline, as well as conducting short and long-term rehabilitation for seals and sea turtles. In 2023, the National Aquarium’s Stranding Response Center in Ocean City, Maryland, opened to provide up to 96-hours of triage care and stabilization.

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.