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  Category: Wetland Animals

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natural-resources

Wetland Pollinators: From the Wind to the Water and the Bees to the Butterflies

Written on: March 13th, 2024 in Natural ResourcesWetland Animals

By Alison Stouffer, DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program It’s that time of year again where the days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer, and life begins to return to our beloved wetlands. The sea of monotonous brown and gray will slowly make way for gorgeous greens, speckled with the purples, pinks, yellows, […]


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natural-resources

Turtles of Delaware

Written on: July 26th, 2023 in Natural ResourcesWetland Animals

By Alison Rogerson, DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program Summer means warm weather (ok hot), spending more time outside, exploring the woods, wading in streams, and fishing. This makes it more likely that you will encounter one of Delaware’s 14 species of turtles! Safe to say that there is a turtle in every type of […]


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5 Frogs Coming to a Wetland Near You

Written on: March 24th, 2023 in OutreachWetland Animals

By Olivia Allread, DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program Ah, the start of spring. We all have our own personal odes to season. Many of us wait for that 70-degree day, some prepare gardens for planting, while others set the date to do that annual “cleaning” and get the dust off their ceiling fan blades. […]


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wetland-animals

A Dynamic Ecosystem

Written on: December 19th, 2022 in Wetland AnimalsWetland Assessments

By Brittney Flatten, DNREC’s Watershed Assessment and Management Section For the past year, I’ve been working with another DNREC scientist to document submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in Delaware’s streams, ponds, and bays to get a better understanding of where these plants like to grow and how we can protect them. I had previously observed some […]


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wetland-animals

Wildlife Cameras as a Wetland Monitoring Tool: Mammals in the Marsh

Written on: September 26th, 2022 in Wetland Animals

By Kayla Clauson, DNREC’s Watershed Assessment and Management Section Wildlife cameras are a tool that scientists can use to collect wildlife field data. Discussed previously in a past blog post, wildlife cameras allow scientists to collect field data secretly, without being there, round the clock. This wildlife habitat utilization monitoring is part of a salt […]


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The Big Year at DNERR

Written on: July 13th, 2022 in OutreachWetland Animals

By Laurel Sullivan, DNREC’s Delaware Coastal Programs Attention! Calling all birders, experienced and newbies- the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve (DNERR) has a Big Year challenge for you! A Big Year is a challenge birdwatchers set for themselves to see or hear as many birds and bird species as possible within a single year. This […]


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wetland-animals

Tiger Salamanders and Forested Buffers

Written on: March 17th, 2022 in Wetland Animals

by Alison Rogerson, Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program Early on a rainy but relatively warm February morning, while most people were still snuggled under the blankets, two biologists from DNREC Fish & Wildlife wade through a wetland pond in Blackbird State Forest. Their chest waders and raincoat keep them dry. Their headlamp helps them navigate […]


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Exploring Low Marsh Ecology: The Three Contenders

Written on: March 14th, 2022 in OutreachWetland Animals

By Kayla Clauson, DNREC’s Watershed Assessment and Management Section If you’ve followed the WMAP blog for some time, there is no lack of evidence how important salt marshes and other wetlands are. Here, I will dive deeper on salt marsh ecology with a focus on the low marsh zone. First, here are some important fast […]


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Senses in the Salt Marsh

Written on: September 8th, 2021 in OutreachWetland Animals

By Kayla Clauson, DNREC’s Watershed Assessment and Management Section (WAMS) If you’re anything like me and always looking for an adventure, maybe you should check out a tidal salt marsh! I’ll admit – I am slightly biased towards salt marshes due to my professional background, but I’ve exposed many individuals to the wonders of a […]


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wetland-animals

Off the Rails: Studies on Delaware Clapper Rail

Written on: May 18th, 2020 in Wetland Animals

Colloquially known as marsh hens, the Clapper Rail (Rallus crepitans) is a vocal inhabitant of saltmarshes across the eastern coast of the United States and down into the Caribbean. Many of the first in-depth observations of Clapper Rail occurred in the mid-Atlantic, and in Delaware, Brooke Meanley documented much of their ecology. The northern Clapper Rail populations, including Delaware, have been declining based on extensive survey work conducted by the Saltmarsh Habitat Avian Research Program (SHARP).


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