Nature of Delaware Blog

By Joe Sebastiani, Director of Adult Engagement Raptor Photos by David Brown, Ashland Hawk Watcher The Ashland Hawk Watch is set to start up for the 17th fall in a row. September 1st is opening day of hawk watching season at Ashland Nature Center. Birders, raptor aficionados, and visitors to Ashland look forward to this…

By Joe Sebastiani, Director of Adult Engagement Welcome to National Moth Week 2023!  From July 22 to July 30, organizers of Moth Week encourage you to get outside, especially at night, and try to observe and photograph moths.  If you take any moth photos, upload them to iNaturalist, or any of the citizen science portals…

By Joe Sebastiani, Director of Adult Engagement In mid-July, a van full of Delaware Nature Society members spent the day walking and touring the gem of the New Jersey Pine Barrens…Franklin Parker Preserve. This Preserve is owned by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, whose leadership raised the funds necessary to purchase the property in 2003.…

The joy of nest boxes Putting up a nest box is a great way to attract cavity-nesting birds to your property. We have almost 300 nest boxes spread out along the trails throughout the meadows and woods of our sites. A small army of dedicated volunteers heads out each week to monitor these boxes. They…

I have been trying to identify butterflies over the last 30 years, and just when I think I’ve seen all the local species, I get surprised.  Over the last week, I’ve crossed paths with two species I’ve never seen before.  Both of them were in places I find myself almost every day…Ashland Nature Center and…

During the summer of 1999—our first season operating the watercraft rental concession at Fenwick Island State Park—we spent most afternoons trying to gain the trust of three Mallards: two drakes and one hen. After the morning rush, they’d waddle up from the water, quacking and murmuring, each day coming a little closer to the proffered…