Wildlife and the Environment

The Osprey are back. The Bluebirds have built their nests. The adorable, chubby fox kits roll and chase each other around their den. A Carpenter Bee stared me in the eye yesterday as I walked out my door. (He said, “You know, there’s not much left here. I think it’s time you built a new house. Wood, please. No concrete blocks.”)   While I love seeing these seasonal residents return, my favorite sign of spring isn’t a sight. It’s a sound. Spring peepers are about the length of a paper clip but have the range of Kelly Clarkson. They are the rock stars of the spring. These prolific little frogs live in wet areas (our backyard pond is their Merriweather Post Pavilion) but their brownish-tannish-olive coloring allows them to blend so completely with their surroundings that they

Weather forecast, water temperature, air temperature, average tidal change—these are probably four of the most important factors when planning a kayak camping trip in an unfamiliar environment, especially for a trip off the coast of Maine in late September. For our first kayak camping trip (circa 1995) we carefully considered 3 of the 4 factors.  We’d launched late in the day (see previous post) and didn’t have a route in mind. But we didn’t need to. Islands spread across the chart like freckles on the cheeks of a redhead. Our plan was to paddle until we found a hospitable-looking island, pull up, and camp.  Unusually warm daytime temps mixed with seasonally cool waters had resulted in a light fog settling over us and the bay. A lobster boat, engine droning yet invisible in the fog,

This past summer we greeted a lot of friendly faces - families from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, New York; young professionals from D.C, Philadelphia, Manhattan; retirees from Lewes, Selbyville, Millville. But some of our most surprising visitors this year didn’t drive into our parking lot. They flew and swam into our bay. Pelicans: We saw more Brown Pelicans in Little Assawoman Bay than ever before. On the ocean side, pelicans are not a rare sighting. But sometimes years will pass between sightings on our bay. However, this summer, at one point, we counted over thirty pelicans at one time circling or floating on the water near Point of Cedars Island. Pelicans are more fascinating to watch than the Weather Channel during hurricane season - the way they fold their awkward beaks sleekly into their bodies while

Somehow they know it’s time. Towards the end of summer, the small changes in daylight signal rituals of preparation. They flock together, watching and waiting. One morning the marsh is full of birds hunting and preening, and the next morning, usually after a strong north wind, they’re gone, those same tidal ponds eerily empty. Yet, thankfully, not all birds desert our beaches and inland bays. Throughout the winter, besides the short-lived migrations of northern birds passing through, we have hardy, year-round residents. Instead of following food sources south, they’ve figured out ways to hunt, forage, and survive in the worst of weather. One of our largest avian year-round residents is the wild turkey. They roam in flocks and when you see them run across the road or a field, it is impossible not to smile and

You’ve finally arrived at the beach. Now it’s time to plan out your week. You open your weather app and… major disappointment! Every single day shows a cloud and a lightening bolt. Do not despair! Our forecast for the weather forecast here at the beach shows a 99% chance of inaccurate forecasting. Many temperatures and masses live side by side in this area. The ocean is cool. The land is hot. The bay is in between. We have sea breezes and land breezes. The wind speed and direction differs on the different area bays. Weather forecasters have a tough job here! At Coastal Kayak, when we see a forecast with anything less than 80% chance of rain, we don’t pay it much attention. 90-100% chance - we’ll take note. But even then it is definitely

Hello! Thanks for calling ReNest. This is Robin. How can I help you? Ozzy: Yes, we’re newly weds searching for the perfect place to build our home. We need something fast. Do you have anything available? Robin: Of course! Describe your perfect spot. Ozzy: Well, we need to live near the water, shallow water preferably. We’d like an expansive view. And we don’t like neighbors.  Robin: I’ve got a platform in mind that will be perfect for you!   Paddling on the bays this time of the year, you’re sure to see Osprey couples guarding their nests. And if you get too close, you’re sure to hear their sharp, distinctive warnings. At this point in the season most of their eggs have hatched. So we’re now seeing the fuzzy heads of Osprey chicks peering from the nest.

What if the things that made our lives easier—plastic wrap, Ziploc bags, disposable forks and diapers, milk jugs, shampoo bottles—simply vanished once they were no longer needed? What if when someone tossed an empty McDonald’s bag or Powerade bottle out of their car window it became a beautiful flower instead of a dingy eyesore? What if concrete, asphalt, strip malls, and big box stores absorbed carbon dioxide and emitted clean, daisy-fresh air? If these things happened, we wouldn’t need Earth Day.  We all know one day is not enough to make up for 364 of abuse. But it is a start. And it is an important start. And if you make the effort, we want to award you. Post a photo to our Facebook page or Instagram account of you participating in a clean up

One of our favorite holidays is just around the corner. Not Thanksgiving, definitely not Christmas. It’s #OptOutside! Technically it’s not a holiday; it’s a movement - literally and figuratively! In case you’ve never heard of #OptOutside, in 2015 the outdoor gear store, REI, made the decision to close on Black Friday (that nightmarish quasi-holiday that turns people into paycheck-blowing, spending-frenzied, zombie-beasts) so that their employees could have the day to play - outside. A pretty gutsy move for a retail store. “The best data we have says that, in any given year, 150 million Americans don’t spend any time outside. That’s half the country. Day in, day out, we’re looking down instead of up, looking at our phones instead of the world around us,’” says REI CEO Jerry Stritzke. “We’re asking people this year to

Like everyone else these days we are trying to break our addiction to plastic. We now use 100% recycled paper bags for our merchandise instead of plastic bags. We only sell sodas in cans. We provide filtered water to refill your water bottles. But our biggest dilemma in the battle against plastic has always been single-use bottled water. On hot summer days people need to drink water. Staying hydrated is extremely important. We have to have bottled water available. Finally, we found a great alternative! Bottled water in resealable, aluminum cans!! The company is called Green Sheep Water. Why is aluminum so much better than plastic? Aluminum is completely and infinitely recyclable. Aluminum is recycled worldwide – in many places it is actually incentivized. And it has a much higher rate of being recycled than

We've all seen the photos—in the middle of pristine, blue oceans a Delaware-sized island of floating garbage, sea turtles munching on plastic bags, dead marine mammals with stomachs full of plastic. It breaks your heart. We all use plastics—it's almost impossible not to. So we are all guilty of the crime. But we CAN do better! Like everything that's worthwhile, it is not easy to give up plastics. You have to haul your reusable grocery and produce bags to the supermarket and then deal with the stink-eye from the bagger. Or, even though you're already late you have to dig around your cabinet for your reusable water bottle, never finding the correct lid. Then you run out during the day so you have to refill it from the faucet with chlorine-flavored water. And the worst—your