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Nature tours return to Delmarva Oct. 9-11

October 4, 2020

With COVID-19 protocols in place, Delmarva Birding Weekends has announced the second annual Oktobirdfest slated for Friday to Sunday, Oct. 9 to 11.

Like spring migration in late April, fall migration in early October offers high numbers of species for nature lovers to enjoy, as warblers, herons and egrets trade places with waterfowl, hawks and eagles.

Nature lovers can register for just one field trip, or multiple field trips each day of the three-day event. On Friday, participants can get an early start to the weekend with both songbirds and shorebirds in Maryland near Ocean City and Berlin before embarking on an afternoon trip to the nearby 2,200-acre private Newport Farms.

On Saturday, after trips to beautiful landings in Chincoteague Bay and a hawk walk around the dunes at Cape Henlopen, the highlight of Oktobirdfest takes place on the Shorebird Explorer when ponies, shorebirds, and eagles put on a show behind Assateague Island. Top off the weekend with a Sunday paddle on Ayres Creek or a saunter around Delaware Seashore State Park.

Guided by fun-loving local birders with decades of experience, the walking tours, boat trips, and canoe and kayak paddles will accommodate visitors from the curious nature lover to fowl fanatics. Every year, birdwatchers from surrounding states flock to Delmarva in the fall.

“The October weekend is spectacular,” said Scott Thomas, Southern Delaware Tourism director. “Imagine hiking a dunes trail at Cape Henlopen to be met with a Peregrine Falcon dive-bombing a flock of shorebirds. Or spend Sunday morning at Delaware Seashore State Park enjoying the beautiful yellow of fall warblers. That’s what the weekend is all about.”

Social events for this year’s Oktobirdfest have been postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic. 

“It’s our vast shallow bays and large tracts of protected marshes and bald cypress forests that make the Delmarva Peninsula one of the finest birding regions in the nation,” said guide and organizer Jim Rapp. “During the weekend, our guests will hike on private farmland and woodland that are normally off limits to birders, and our waterborne trips go where the birds are.”

Co-organizer Dave Wilson said most trips are not physically taxing, and the event provides a rare opportunity to tally 100 species in a day in places that are normally inaccessible to the public. For Oktobirdfest 2020, mask wearing and social distancing will be the rule. There will be no carpooling, and numbers of seats will be reduced.

To register, go to delmarvabirding.com.

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