Dr. Goodman’s BIOL 385 Wildlife Biology class took a weekend field trip in October to the Eastern Shore Birding & Wildlife Festival.  We camped for 2 nights in Kiptopeke State Park and went to workshops in bird identification and bird watching for  the ornithology portion of the course.

The Delmarva peninsula is an amazing location for watching birds in the migration season, because birds flying south and funneled to the tip as they attempt to stay over land for as long as possible before crossing water.  The park we stayed in has a “Hawk Watch” there people sight and count birds of prey as they fly unidirectionally overhead- typically they see over 1,000 hawks daily!

In total, we saw and heard 40 species of birds (and some bottle-nosed dolphins). We also hear a fascinating keynote lecture by a scientist with the American Bird Conservancy about the status of birds and their habitats, and the history and progress of bird conservation since the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.