Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

Delmarva Fox Squirrel, not an easy find

    I talked a lot about the sky and wind in my post about the Cherry Blossoms. What I did not talk about was the weather. The early part of the week was cold, very cold. When we drove down on Sunday night it was in the thirties. It didn't reach forty degrees until late in the day on Monday. Tuesday was predicted for more of the same temperatures for Tuesday but with a very good chance of rain. We had planned on going to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge one day on the trip. We ended up choosing Tuesday because we did not want to bike ride around DC in a just above freezing rain storm. We woke up from our tent Tuesday morning to twenty four degree temperatures.

   From our campsite at Greenbelt Campground to the Blackwater Visitor Center we had a two hour ride. This is another of those places I've wanted to go since I was little. I don't even know how I first heard about it. Blackwater is a huge tidal marsh on Chesapeake Bay. It is a stopover spot for thousands of ducks and geese. I knew we wouldn't see thousands of ducks at this time of year, but birds really weren't the priority. 

   Our main goal going to the refuge was to see Sika Deer. Sika Deer are an Asian species. They were imported to many countries including parts of the US. Sika Deer were introduced to the Delmarva Peninsula and are doing quite well. They are not invasive and do not compete with our native White Tailed Deer. The Sika Deer live in the swamps and even feed in the water so they can peacefully coexist with our native deer. 

  Sika Deer like White Tails are active at dawn and dusk and I was told by a ranger, at night. So I knew our chances were slim to see one during the day. Since we arrived at 9:30 am, our chances were slim to stay till dusk.

   There was another animal on our radar. The Delmarva Fox Squirrel makes its home in the woods around the marsh. Until 2015 the Delmarva Fox Squirrel was endangered. Luckily their numbers have rebounded and they were taken off of the list. We hoped to see one and asked the ranger where our best hope was. Delmarva Fox Squirrels are big. A Gray Squirrel is about 20 inches including its tail. A Delmarva Fox Squirrel is thirty inches and the tail is long and bushy. The coloration can range from almost white to a silver grey.

   The two mammals were our primary targets. I had two secondary targets as well. They were Carolina Chickadee and Brown Headed Nuthatch. I had seen both in North Carolina in June 2021, but any time I can see a southern species I'm happy. Also, there was a King Rail calling somewhere on the refuge, but rails are hard and I wasn't too worried about it.

   The Wildlife Drive was short. Despite stopping at multiple spots and never getting above fifteen mph, we drove it in 45 minutes. Obviously we planned on doing it multiple times. Our first stop at the Observation Tower landed us six Bald Eagles. We also saw Northern Shovelers and various other common birds. 

   After our first trip around we hit the few trails at the refuge. The Woods Trail was one of the places the ranger told us to look for the squirrels. The woods were open and we had good sight lines to look far into the trees but did not see any squirrels. After that trail we went to another called the Wallace Trail where we also struck out.

   After the Wallace Trail we went back to Wildlife Drive. I heard a flock of birds that sounded like chickadees. I got out to investigate and we had Carolina Chickadees, Brown Headed Nuthatch, Yellow Rumped Warblers and a couple of Blue Jays in some pines. I was most interested in the Nuthatches because the only photos of them I had were of them high in the trees against a gray sky. All you could see was a dark outline of a bird. Happily, the birds played along and I got some much improved photo upgrades of the Brown Headed Nuthatches. 

Brown Headed Nuthatch

   Around 3 pm the long drive from home and the two early mornings caught up to us. We ended up taking a shot nap at the trailhead of the Woods Trail . I rolled my sweatshirt up, rested it against the window and was asleep in seconds. About an hour later we woke up. As far as I could tell no other cars entered the parking lot the whole time despite it having a bathroom. 

   We went back out into the Woods Trail again. I noticed some wild Daffodils way into the woods. I pointed them out to Laurie. She put up her bins for a better look. She quietly called me over because she saw a Delmarva Fox Squirrel. It was pretty far away but it was unmistakable. It was a silver white. I got some awful photos of it. Still we were pumped to see it. Of course once we saw one, we ended up seeing one more as we were just getting back to the car. This one was much closer and less shy. It was eating while sitting on a log. It was easy to get good photos of that one.

   After walking the woods trail we went through the refuge yet again. Each time we would get a new bird or two. We ended up with 39 bird species which is more than any I have seen on Ebird while I have been checking. At this point it was late enough to stay to see if we could spy a Sika Deer. The plan from 6 pm on was just to keep driving around as the shadows got longer and sunset approached. On our fifth time around we did not see any deer, but we knew the next time around would be our best hope. We went slow enough to plan on being at the most likely swampy area at sunset.

 

 Driving a straightway with swamp on both sides and our windows open we heard the King Rail. There was no doubt what it was but later Laurie checked a recording to confirm what we heard. We stopped and listened to the rail for two minutes or so. Just a few feet past the rail a Sika Deer came out of the woods. It started feeding on the edge of the road. 

  The deer was a buck with the knobs just starting to come through. At first I thought it was young, but based on the two stuffed deer at the VC and I read they only get to about ninety pounds, this one must have been an adult. It was easily ninety pounds. Unlike our White Tailed Deer, Sika Deer keep their spots. This one had a few on its back and legs. We watched the buck for about ten minutes. We was only fifteen feet from the car. 

   When we left him we drove slowly through the refuge to find more. We didn't see any more Sika Deer but did see twelve White Tailed Deer on our ride home most of them in the refuge. We did have a two hour drive back to camp mostly in the dark but what an amazing day. We got both our primary targets (deer and squirrel), both our secondary targets (Carolina Chickadee and Brown Headed Nuthatch. I even got a lifer in the King Rail.