Join us for a visit to Delaware's Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge as birds make their fall migration south next on Nature Scene.

A production of: Nature Scene is made possible in part by a generous grant from Santee Cooper where protection and improvement of our environment are equal in importance to providing electric energy.

Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for public Broadcasting and by viewers like you members of the etv endowment of south carolina.

♪ (calm music) Hello, and welcome to Nature Scene in mid-october on the atlantic coastal plain of delaware.

I'm Jim Welch with naturalist Rudy Mancke and we're at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge near the city of Dover.

With migration in full swing, Rudy this is a perfect time to visit this refuge.

I think this is going to be just right.

The, uh...

The changes of seasons are going to bring a lot of birds into this refuge.

We're going to be hearing geese and other animals calling.

We're going to have a good mix, too, of salt-marsh area and freshwater impoundments and that's what you would expect at a refuge like this.

We are on the coastal plains and that means that, of course, the ocean has been here before-- it's come and gone many times.

And really now today we're on the delmarva peninsula-- high ground that sticks out with the Delaware bay on one side Chesapeake bay on the other side really flooded river valleys and then this peninsula right in the middle.

I think it'll be interesting today to see what kind of birds are here.

The colors of fall are all around us.

And the sounds of migration all around us, Jim and look up and you can see wave after wave of snow geese coming in.

( snow geese honking ) Jim: Rudy, up to 50,000 or 75,000 of the snow geese will come to this refuge during the fall and what a beautiful, beautiful sight.

They are beautiful flying in.

That's something I never can get enough of.

We said, now, that there's salt marsh here and freshwater impoundments.

There are connections-- interesting kinds of water gates there.

I think you can see that one in the distance there.

To connect the two sometimes you really need extra water in here.

This has been a fairly dry year so they've actually taken some tidal flow and put it into these impoundments.

Look at the... Look at the bird perched right up there, Jim, with the binoculars.

Look closely at it.

Oh, a white egret?

Well, I thought at first it was a snowy egret but that's a bluish beak, and those legs are all kind of greenish yellow, aren't they?

They are, so what would that make him?

So that's an immature little blue heron.

Strange to call it a little blue heron when it's so white but that's just the immature form.

And those legs are the giveaway?

Yeah, legs and the beak are a, uh... A giveaway.

Oh, that's a neat animal.

Perched up there maybe that's a good place to get a meal.

They get a lot of small fish in areas like this.

And, of course, salt marsh would be that way.

When you turn just to look on the other side of the road here then this is freshwater impoundment.

And as we said, water levels are lower now than they have been in a long time.

I see cattails out there all over the place.

I mean, just all over the place-- cattails sticking up with fruit on it.

Stem underground.

Whenever you see that plant you kind of feel like water is becoming land because it traps a lot of organic material.

And you need the fresher water.

Usually, freshwater situations is where they do best.

And then a plant, now, that honestly does well in freshwater, brackish watee or even salt marshes-- phragmites, one of those intraductions that has really, really taken over marsh areas.

It doesn't proce a lot of nesting habitat for birds or food for animals.

So it gets to be a little bit of a problem in places ke this but it dominates on the edge.

And then the mud flats.

Now, you'd think water level's low-- That's a negative thing.

Well, it is for geese but it's absolutely perfect for those little semi-palmated clovers out there.

Look at them.

See them moving around?

Oh, yeah, with the fall-winter marking.

Not as bright as in the summer.

Yeah, kind of yellowish legs.

That mud sticking to their feet.

But they're finding little bits of food there on the flats.

And I see one of the sandpipers there, too-- maybe semipalmated sandpiper right there, couple of them.

Short beaks, sort of pecking down, looking for a meal just strolling out.

And then the dunlins-- look at them, right in front.

See the beak on those little things?

Oh, yeah!

They almost like they're hunched over.

Little squat bird.

Yeah.

And the beak is turned down just a little on the end-- longer beak, little larger bird and that seems to be the common one out here this time of year.

But they're moving along slowly but surely.

34 different shorebirds listed among the refuge staff.

Well, this is great place for shorebirds because of the ability to get water up and down here.

Now, looking down now the water here.

Oh, that's a beautiful yellowlegs.

Look at the color on the legs.

I mean, absolutely perfectly named.

Yellowlegs-- long beak on it.

And of course, those long legs allow it to get in a little deeper water than some of those other birds finding a meal right there.

Yellowlegs is rather common here, too.

( chuckles ): yeah.

And they'll be doing some moving around here.

Look at him charging over here to the side looking for a meal, see?

Movement in the water-- maybe a small fish or a shrimp, something moving in the water and there are a couple of them now down there making a meal.

Beak down, just running through the, uh...

Through the water.

That is a beautiful little bird, isn't it?

So he's getting insects and crustaceans.

Getting invertebrates and vertebrates probably there just finding what's available in that really fairly shallow water makes it very vulnerable.

Now I see something up.

I see something up.

Get your binoculars up on that, Jim.

I think that's an immature peregrine falcon.

Oh, my gosh!

Size-- it's got to be.

Markings underneath-- you see it wheeling around up there.

Now, that's a bird that takes a lot of other birds.

Duck hawk is another, you know, name for that thing-- an endangered species.

And that's uncommon for this refuge.

Yeah, endangered species and, again, an immature one flying above.

That's going to scare the daylights out of a lot of the birds that are there wheeling around above us.

Tail is flared, helping him soar around.

That bird is always exciting to see.

Oh, man, that's a neat animal.

Interesting thing.

Beautiful... Beautiful day like tls you dculd expect the butterflies out and here on the daisy is one of them.

Oh, yeah, and a pearl crescent.

No question about that.

Tiny little animal.

Of course, that's the adult.

You know, once they got wings they don't get any larger-- going from flower to flower.

Daisy's one of the composites-- usters of disk flowers in the middle.

And it's going from flower to flower getting a meal.

See a few ants there also trying to get a little bit of nectar.

And, again, sugar, nectar s energy for that little butterfly.

He's a beauty.

I see something else that's kind of pretty.

Look right here.

Oh, a beautiful turtle.

Look right here next to us.

Yeah.

Let me just see.

I don't know why he's not moving a little more than he is but this is really one of the common turtles in the freshwater impoundments here.

Common name for it is the perfect name-- painted turtle.

His head is pulled back in and he's typically shy but he might come out for us.

Oh, that's an absolutely beautiful turtle though, isn't it?

And, really, when you turn it you can see the scales on the back.

Sort of connect easily together running all the way across.

Not nearly so brightly marked on the back as it is on the underside.

And let's ease it around here because this is really...

Here he comes out a little bit more.

Beautiful color!

Look at the color.

Painted turtle.

Look at that orange!

Painted turtle-- eastern painted turtle is the common name for it.

Also, a lot of red you see on the underside there on the edges of the shell.

But that's an interesting animal.

And then when you look right in there you can see him kind of hiding inside pulled back in as much as he can get in.

Rather flat shell, too.

Yeah, a lot of red on the skin there.

And again, the shell is basically bone in the skin of the turtle-- the eastern painted turtle.

They would be in these freshwater impoundments.

We'd probably see their tracks out there now that the water's so low.

But kind of nice to have the actual animal in hand.

Other larger turtles here but that one, I guess, the most common one.

Oh, yeah, and I guess the most beautiful with those beautiful colors.

This one now you think of as freshwater impoundments.

Let's take a look at that salt-marsh area next.

( moving and soft music ) 16,000 acres here at Bombay Hook and nice roads throughout-- since 1937, giving the public a chance to look at the wildlife here.

Yeah, this is a great refuge like so many of them with a little loop road that you can go around and sample the variety of habitats and this is a great refuge for that.

And I can't help but look at... ( chuckles ) more snow geese.

Them out there.

Look largest winter population here in this area are the snow geese.

Oh, that is a beautiful bird on the water.

And the name comes, of course, from the color.

Mainly white and a little bit of black on the ends of the wings.

Although there are some darker ones out there now.

The, uh, blue goose, it used to be called-- one of the color phases of the snow goose.

But lots of them gathering here.

And, again, those large numbers that we saw flying in a little bit earlier just the beginning, probably.

There's still more to arrive.

And many of them stay here through the winter.

Ever-present honking.

Yeah, they seem to prefer, right now,anyway the, uh...

The salt-marsh area because that's really what we're looking at here is a salt-marsh situation-- tidal situation.

I see another... Look over there in the salt- marsh grasses.

See the, uh...

The great egret?

Long necks, stiletto-like beak looking for a meal just easing through the water there.

Look at that thing!

Extremely long neck.

That's the other white bird that's so common here.

And grabbing...

Looked like he got a fish there.

Yeah, looks like he got a fish and made a meal out of that straightening his neck when he swallows.

Marshes and grasses-- great food source.

Yeah, well, wading birds just love areas like this and, of course, a marvelous place for migratory waterfowl.

@0 what kind of grass is that, Rudy?

Probably spartina, one of t cordgrasses-- common name for it and that's the dominant species here.

There are other species that come in.

Look at the ruddy ducks, right here.

Winter plumage-- ruddy ducks the male leading out.

See the one with the big...

The whitish blotch on the side of the head.

And a cheek patch.

Yeah, it looks like they're in a hurry.

The male is gone, and then it looks like a couple of females following there.

But again, winter plumage.

They'd be a little more brightly colored in warmer months of the year.

A couple of black ducks over there.

A black duck over there, yeah.

Black duck moving along.

Pretty good-sized body.

Looks a lot like a mallard in size and, uh, shape.

There's a bufflehead over there, too.

Look at the white and the black on that bufflehead.

He just almost jumps out at you.

That's a brightly colored bird again, with a lot of white and that black makes the white even more white.

And diving ducks prefer the deeper side over here.

Check out the cormorants, too while we're looking.

Talking about white well, there's all black, basically.

A little bit of lighter color on the throat.

And talk about divers-- those are good divers.

Oh, yeah, those are marvelous divers.

Fish eaters here.

And, again, they seem to prefer this deeper water of the marsh.

Bufflehead taking off right there.

See him running away and flying.

Oh, that's a nice bird.

The movement of those wings-- black and white, very clear heading off from us.

Trees are still changing colors, Rudy and we see the reds and golds-- the sweet gum stands out over there.

Yeah, that higher, uh... Higher ground is something you want to take a look at, too.

Hammocks or hummocks, sometimes they're called.

Different habitat totally.

We'll get over to see that.

But october, gorgeous time to be out in the world of nature.

Salt marsh, of course, is interesting on this side.

Why don't we just turn around next and head back to some freshwater impoundments?

(moving and calm music) Jim: Rudy, you mentioned a dry year.

This is one of the very driest on record at the refuge.

Rudy: well, you can see the way now the water has gone.

Little pockets of it here and there.

And then all of these plants have popped up grow where they could noz'grow before.

And that vegetation produces lots of food.

Look right out here on the flats.

Green-winged teal, male see, with his little beak in the goo out there trying to find a meal.

Oh, that's a nice one.

And you can see he's got kind of a cinnamon-colored head and the green on it.

The green speculum.

Yeah, green-winged teal is a good common name for that one.

One of the smaller ducks but finding a meal out there.

And then another one now, much more common than the green-winged teal would be the northern pintail.

See that group there, preening over there, Jim?

Oh, yeah.

Male is... Just one male among them.

Always the most brightly colored in the ducks and then the females.

And that tail, Rudy, is the giveaway.

Well, I think that's a pretty good common name for it.

Very widespread duck in north america.

Those are really beautiful animals when you get close to them and a refuge like this allows you to get very close.

They don't seem to be as bothered by our presence.

Gosh, t's a beautiful bird.

And look... Jim, over the marsh the marsh hawk or now called northern harrier see him moving really fast away?

Oh, yes, flying straight and low.

Oh, yeah, heading off in the distance.

White rump patch is pretty obvious on that bird as he flies away from us.

And speaking of birds flying look at those clusters of shorebirds just zooming, zigzagging this way and that.

Oh, isn't that beautiful?

Hard to keep up with them.

Black where they've got their top facing you and then white when they turn their underside toward you.

Unbelievable movement really almost like schools of fish except they're moving through the air.

Takes pretty good vision.

To be able to move like that is spectacular.

Beautiful flyers and in choreographed unison.

Something must have startled them, though.

Well, look up above.

Look at this, look at this.

Bald eagle, right there.

Immature@aald eagle.

Look at the size of that bird-- the width of those wings.

Oh, my goodness!

Looking down at us.

That probably is what frightened those shorebirds.

That would be frightening to small birds like that.

A lot of mottling underneath.

White sort of spattered around underneath the body of that bird but wheeling around above us.

That's one of the most spectacular birds in the world-- another endangered species that actually do spend some time on this refuge.

Gosh, that's a beautiful animal.

(calm music) in 1679, this area was traded by the indians to the white settlers.

At that time, it was called boompies hoock; today, of course, bombay hook and what a great refuge.

Well, I like the variety and again, it's very, very accessible.

That's what makes it so nice.

You get a chance to come down from the road to a place like this and see, really, even though the water is down I mean, the canada geese out there are doing just fine.

Look at that large group of them.

Oh, the other famous winter resident upwards of 40,000 come in here.

And find meals often out of the water.

Gathering together in groups like that-- that white blotch on the side of the head and the white rump is pretty obvious, isn't it?

Gosh, that's a big bird.

Group out there, and then also a smaller group.

Look at them coming from the right, Jim almost single file.

Guess there is safety in numbers so they're moving together.

Widespread bird.

That's the most commonly seen goose in north america.

Another over here, the grackle up on a small piece of lumber stuck in the ground.

Yeah!

Beautiful bird.

Very vocal.

I mean, they make lots of loud sounds.

We've heard lots of interesting birdcalls today.

Shiny look to that animal almost like a metallic hue to it.

That's a neat bird.

It's a big bird, too.

Look right down here.

Look at the red fox, right here, moving along right beside us... Below us here.

White on the tip of the tail black boots, it looks like and then red everywhere else.

What a beautiful animal.

Look at that tail.

Look at him take a look at us, too and then head off in the distance kind of bounding away.

Mammals and birds of every description here.

Oh, there's a lot of variety.

Thought I saw something down here.

Look at... Look at the snow goose.

Individual snow goose that's really standing out like a sore thumb.

And it's amazing.

You see, it's not with the others at all.

Immature one, gray on the back.

Something's wrong.

Yeah, there's a problem there.

And that fox certainly might find it and recycle it-- change it into fox.

That'd be easy prey for a red fox like that.

The way of nature.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that's a neat bird.

Really fairly close to us here.

And then in that little bit of shallow water look at the raccoons, two of them, coming out right behind the goose.

Doesn't even seem to care that the goose is there.

Or that we're here and they're just kind of walking from one stand of trees to another.

One following the other.

A mask and then the rings on the tail and feeding on plant and animal daterial here.

That's a neat little animal.

I see something else close, just really close right in the sunlight.

Fresh buckeye butterfly.

Bright orange on that butterfly.

Oh, yeah, that is a beautiful animal and again, those eyespots 48 take the predator's attention away from the body of the animal to what he thinks is the head with the eyespots which, of course, are just the wings.

Gosh, that is a beautiful animal.

Not a scale missing on those wings.

So far today we've taken a look at that salt marsh and also these freshwater impoundments but the fox was bouncing into one of those hammocks.

That's the only other habitat left to look at.

Why don't we take a look at that next?

(calm music) very few hardwood areas like this in the refuge but when you get in one you can't help but notice all the beautiful autumn colors around.

Oh, yeah, this is a beautiful time of year and this...

These places serve kind of as a refuge for lots of animals to hide during the day and then spend time out in the open at night.

But, yeah, the color is nice.

Just look around all over here.

I see sweet gum everywhere I look.r sweet gum seems to be one ofhe dominant trees in here.

Larger trees and more of them.

Oh, yeah.

Not a great food tree for wildlife, but... Well, but right next to them there's a good one.

Alligator-looking bark on the persimmon.

Loaded with fruit.

Oh, my goodness, yeah, I see one over there?

That's got lots and lots of fruit.

And again, male flowers are on one tree one individual tree; females flowers on another so only the females have the fruit and a lot of animals recycle that including those raccoons that we saw earlier.

I see sassafras in there, too.

Sassafras is another tree with some color on it this time of year.

Dwarf sumac, right low.

Just see it right there.

Really low, compound leaves bright red leaves, right there.

Right beside it's poison ivy, now.

Of course, poison ivy's poisonous to the touch.

That dwarf sumac is no problem.

But look how brightly colored those poison ivy leaflets are now.

Red... Three parts to the leaf, yeah.

Red leaf-- stay away from it.

And look at the way it's sturdy, too.

I mean, it's a little shrubby plant there.

It's not a vine.

It's actually shrubby.

So some people would misidentify that.

These colors are so nice.

There's so many of them all around us, too.

Really a pretty good grouping right here.

Why don't we pick up a couple take a close look and see if we can figure out the tree just looking at one of the leaves.

The red color-- a giveaway for the sweet gum.

Also, the shape, I guess mainly tells us it's sweet gum.

Yeah, and five lobes to the leaf and red usually lets you know there's extra su,ar in the leaf when it was dying.

The next one here is persimmon.

Kind of a plain-looking leaf.

That yellow was there even when the chlorophyll was there.

Then when the chlorophyll went away it was exposed.

And that's kind of a nice one.

Red, brilliant red here-- another one.

This is black gum.

Widespread tree, especially when you've got a little extra moisture in a raised area.

And this one, now, is a tricky one.

Oh, the tree or a shrub?

This is a vine... A vine!

And instead of being a leaf it's one leaflet of virginia creeper.

There would be five of these leaflets.

And see, they all fall...

The leaf falls apart so that one is hard to identify sometimes but that's virginia creeper.

This one again is sweet gum.

Not a lot of sugar in that leaf, huh?

So it turned yellow instead of red.

So you've got that yellow color.

And then last but not least one of my favorites because the leaf varies in shape-- sometimes three parts like this and sometimes two and sometimes no lobes...

Both: Sassafras.

I've seen prettier sassafras leaves but that one is turning yellow.

Trees are preparing themselves for winter and animals as well, I suppose.

Oh, yeah, and this is a beautiful time of year to walk a trail like this.

Let's keep going.

(soft music) been a great visit today, Rudy and much of the work of the early refuge was the C.C.C.

Yeah, they left their mark and it was a good mark all over the united states.

Made a great difference.

A little extra moisture here right at the edge of the hammock.

Freshwater?

Yeah, probably so.

A little ring of plants around it.

Here's one right in front of us here.

Groundsel, it's called, with fruit on it.

Female flowers on one plant and male flowers on another so they were female flowers there.

There's the fruit.

And look at that right there.

Look at the praying mantis.

Praying mantis!

Yeah, that's a male.

Asiatic mantis.

That's an introduction, now.

Doesn't have a lot longer to live.

Look at him looking at us.

Turning his head toward us with a pair of antenna and sort of triangular- shaped face on it sitting there, probably getting lots of insects that might come, see, to sit in the sun there.

Oh, that's a neat animal.

We've had a chance today, Rudy to look at things small, such as the praying mantis and larger birds and mammals as well.

Yeah, this is a wonderful place and it gives us a chance, too to see salt marsh on one side of a road and then compare that to freshwater impoundments on the other side of the road and then, of course, these high areas are nice, too.

The other interesting thing is we're close to dover air force base.

You would expect to hear more airplanes and I haven't heard or we haven't heard that many today and of course the birds don't seem to mind that at all.

Interesting place.

And, of course, october, november the best time to come visit this kind of a refuge.

Bombay hook national wildlife refuge near the city of dover, delaware.

Thanks for watching and join us again on the next Nature Scene.

(calm closing music) (calm closing music) Nature Scene is made possible in part by a generous grant from Santee Cooper where protection and improvement of our environment are equal in importance to providing electric energy.

Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by viewers like you members of the ETV Endowment of South Carolina.