Bay Photos by Donna

A few days ago, I visited Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland.

It’d been almost three years since my last visit. I’m luckily now living much closer at only an hour away and have been itching to go for the past couple months.

I’m still processing photos but wanted to get this show started with a three-bird species sneak-peek.

First up, the two photos of this first bird are not great quality, but they’re still fantastic to me for good reason. This hawk is considered rare for our region, plus is a lifer.  Woot! 😊

Rough-legged Hawk (dark-morph) – lifer!
Lives and breeds under continuous sunlight in the Arctic tundra
Migrates to southern Canada and the U.S. (primarily West/mid-West) for the winter

Rough-legged Hawk (dark-morphed)

Another sighting considered rare for our region, the American White Pelican. That being said, there is a small flock that arrives and winters at the refuge every winter. They stay well-hidden and are usually difficult to find/see because of the vast marsh unreachable by the public.

I luckily found the flock way out in the distance from Maple Dam Road. Again, not so great photo heavily cropped, BUT there they are!  I counted 36.

American White Pelicans (36+ count)

I know, my photo quality is slipping here. Let me make up for them with these next two.  😉

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Now that was a perfect photo op that couldn’t have been any better!

More to come from this refuge……