DELAWARE'S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM

Delaware Audubon's Important Bird Areas Program is developing an inventory of the critical sites in our state that support significant abundance and diversity of birds. To date, applications for three sites have been submitted and declared Important Bird Areas. Those sites are: White Clay Creek State Park and Preserve, Pea Patch Island (the largest mixed heronry on the East coast), and the Delaware Coastal Zone.

FEATURED IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Delaware Coastal Zone
State: Delaware
Counties: New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties
Nearest Community: Wilmington, Dover, and Lewes

Site Description: The Coastal Zone, including the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and the inland bays, contains approximately 270,000 acres of land. Excluding open water within this area, approximately 232,000 acres are wetlands and uplands.

Ornithological Summary: Breeding Distribution Maps indicate that the Delaware Coastal Zone contains breeding grounds for several WatchListed and endangered/threatened birds. This includes the following species: Piping Plover; American Black Duck; Black Rail; Least Tern; Chuck-will's-widow; Wood Thrush; Prairie, Prothonotary, Worm-eating and Kentucky Warblers; Salt-marsh, Sharp-tailed and Seaside Sparrows; and Brown-headed Nuthatch.

The Delaware Coastal Zone provides significant habitat for birds not only during the breeding season but also during spring and fall migration. During their spring migration from South America to the Arctic, tens of thousands of the WatchListed Red Knot, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, Dunlin, and Short-billed Dowitchers stop in Delaware to consume huge quantities of eggs laid by horseshoe crabs.

Conservation Issues: Given the dependence of a large number of bird species and individuals on the Delaware Coastal Zone much effort has been expended to identify and mitigate potential threats to the area. Specifically the follow issues have been classified.

C (Critical, >50% of the resource): Currently none identified
M (Major, 10%-50%): Housing development and Excessive harvesting of horseshoe crab
L (Local, <10%): Excessive disturbance of birds, Raw Sewage, Over extraction of water, Pesticides, and Commercial Development
P (Potential): Oil pollution - oil spills, Toxic Pollution, Hurricane, Global warming, Sea-level rise

To Learn More About Delaware's
Important Bird Areas Program

Visit the Web Site:
Important Bird Areas of Delaware

Contact:
Ann Rydgren
Important Bird Areas Program Chair
Delaware Audubon Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 1713
Wilmington, DE 19899
(302) 235-0242
rydgren@aol.com