Icy Kent Narrows Channel
After posting the freeze-over photos of Marshy Creek and the southend of the Kent Narrows Channel, I had a few community neighbors ask if I had gotten a chance to see and take photos of whether all of the Kent Narrows Channel had frozen over. Last year it did and Maryland DNR’s cutter, the A. V. Sandusky, was sent through to break the thick 9″ ice to help take the stress off the surrounding marinas, bulkheads, and watermens’ boats iced in.
Photos? Of course, I had. 🙂
Although both ends of the Channel were pretty much frozen over, near the Rt. 18 and Rt. 50 Bridges, centerpoint of the Kent Narrows Channel, the tides’ currents were doing a great job keeping the waters open at the bridges’ bases. Those pretty swift currents run up to 8-10 mph during its high-end speed.
I got out of the car and took these photos from the Rt. 18 Watermans Bridge the morning of February 20th.
South Side to the right, where the Kent Narrows watermen keep their boats. Except for the front right corner, from there back into their marina, the waters were frozen over with the boats iced in.
South side, looking directly down to Prospect Bay. Kent Island Yacht Club is upper right. Big Owl’s Tiki Bar and Bridges Restaurant in upper left. Our community is to the back left opposite the jetty strip stretching out to the markers upper center.
South side, to the left. Tower is where the bridge operator opens and closes the bridge for tall boat traffic year-round.
North side with a bit more ice trying to freeze over, to the right is Harris Crab House, Red Eyes Dock Bar, with Mears Point Marina at the upper end and behind the restaurant establishments.
North side, you can see a water channel was still open from the tidal currents.
Kent Narrows Southend Channel shot from my balcony
It is still quite amazing to see this amount of freezing through the swift Kent Narrows Channel. With the low 40’s temps and strong sunshine today, it surely helped melt it some before the next round of frigid temps. Geez, today it almost felt tropical outside! LOL Well maybe not that nice, but still felt so much better to the body.
Since above might be a bit boring for my birder friends, here’s a shot of a Song Sparrow visiting my make-shift bird feeder set out on my balcony during the snow so they had a chance to find something until the snow melts away.
Song Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Always shy coming to the plate close to our patio doors, I tossed a few out on the snow still on the balcony.
He has been sharing with couple House Finches and Dark-eyed Juncos. All seem to be happily enjoying ‘cuz the dish is empty when I return home! 🙂
Marshy Creek Freezes Over While Waterfowl Try To Survive
This past week brought back the extreme frigid temps to our area, this time they said was the coldest yet for our winter. They are reporting the upper Chesapeake Bay above the Bay Bridge is almost frozen over. The big tankers and cargo ships are struggling to make it through the ice.
I started a series of shots to watch the waters of Marshy Creek in case it froze over. Here you go….
It was last Sunday and days prior, we experienced extreme low tides. In the following photo, you can see a huge mud flat along the riprap to the left of our Osprey nest platform. I don’t recall ever seeing this much mud before. It brought on some activity that I’ll post about later. Marshy Creek was mostly open waters, with some freezing along the edges.
Sunday Afternoon, 2/15/15
The next morning, here’s the same shot showing how much had frozen overnight during our single digits with wind chills in the minuses. Only an open water pool remained and Ruddy Ducks & Mallards had taken refuge around it, sleeping and feeding.
Monday Morning 2/16/15
Monday night we were to get a squall of snow, maybe 5-8″ at most, so I packed up paperwork at the office with plans to hunker down at home Tuesday. When I got home late afternoon, there were few each of Ruddy Ducks, Mallards, Canada Geese, Canvasbacks, Gulls, and a pair of Gadwells feeding and sleeping. Awesome! Now my photo series included birds. 🙂
Monday Afternoon 2/16/15
Canada Geese, Ruddy Ducks, and mallards stayed to the right in the water
Canvasbacks stayed to the left, feeding under the ice
By early evening, the quantity of Canvasbacks had increased. I was glad they were back and hoped they’d stay overnight for some morning watching….ummmm, while I did my office paperwork.
The next morning, WOW! The size of the water pool had decreased substantially; and it was slam-full of Canvasbacks and Ruddy Ducks, while a few Canada Geese slept on the ice. I quickly bundled up and ran out to the balcony to take a series of photos.
Tuesday Morning 2/17/15
In the seconds it takes to take to snap away, I saw something begin to occur in my viewfinder. Snapped a few more.
Canvasbacks tightening up.
Those in the back were flying forward.
Canvasbacks real tight together now, necks straight up in the air.
With the violent splashing and hearing the Canada Geese on the ice squawking, I looked away from my viewfinder to see what WAS going on. And in that instant, an American Bald Eagle was up in the air with an unfortunate Ruddy Duck. I quickly tried to focus on the Eagle as he swooped away and headed to the Osprey nest platform across Marshy Creek to consume breakfast.
American Bald Eagle and an unfortunate ruddy duck.
No matter how many times I’ve seen this, I still don’t know whether I felt fortunate to see the circle of life happening or be sad for the little duck.
Life went back to normal in the pool, as the ducks went back to feeding. The sun even popped out.
A mixture of canvasbacks and ruddy ducks (minus one)
About an hour after the Eagle incident, I checked out my window and the Canvasbacks were gone. Only Ruddy Ducks remained. Wished I had seen them take off and shot a series!
Ruddy Ducks
Their pool of water got smaller by the hour. Next photo is 5 hours later.
Ruddy Ducks
And why those Ruddy Ducks stayed all afternoon, I can’t figure out. They were literally ‘sittin’ ducks’. Two more times I sighted Eagles with one of them.
Immature American Bald Eagle with his Ruddy Duck
Another angle….
I’m hoping the decrease in the size of the water pool helped send the Ruddy Ducks on their way, at least so they didn’t become another snack.
Wednesday Morning 2/18/15 – A little fog present and only a couple Ruddy Ducks
Thursday Morning 2/19/15 – No open pool of water
Today, Saturday 2/21/15 – everything is more solid now
Oh, and in case you ask, no I did not get my office work done that day. Something about birds distracted me….. 🙂
Eastern Neck NWR, Rock Hall, Maryland
Our Kent Island Photo Club took a trip to Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Rock Hall, Maryland, on February 8, 2015. It had been several years since I’d been there, and I had forgotten how unique and wonderful this refuge was. The refuge is a 2,285 acre island and part of the Chesapeake Marshlands NWR Complex. It is most popular for wintering Tundra Swans who travel 4,000 miles to be here.
After weeks of cold temps, that weekend actually warmed to the upper 40’s. The morning was cloudy, but by early afternoon, the sun was shining. When the club members decided to leave, I couldn’t help but stay, it was such a beautiful day.
Here’s my share of the some of the beauty I captured…..
The bridge you cross to get onto the Refuge island. On the bridge and along the Tundra Swan Boardwalk are the best places to view the Tundra Swans.
Tundra Swan on one side of the bridge earlier in the morning.
‘Skirmishes’ were going on amongst a few of the Tundra Swan.
They got pretty loud and fiesty sometimes!
Tundra Swan overhead!
This is the other side of the bridge which views the Chester River. You could hear hundreds of Tundra Swan out in the distance but couldn’t see them today from this point.
I saw about a dozen or so Eagles, at times they were flying by before you knew it.
This American Bald Eagle was flying right above/pass me, I almost missed him.
At one time, there were six in the sky above me. Of course, never all close enough to be in one shot.
American Bald Eagle
That morning, our club had stopped to photograph a juvenile Eagle in a tree. When the group left, I retraced some of our previous stops and found the juvenile still perched as before. I hoofed it over a corn field to get a closer shot. That was when one of the adult Eagles flying overhead decided (s)he wanted that perch. 🙂
Adult and juvenile American Bald Eagles
“This is now my perch!”
I don’t think the juvenile cared to argue.
There were several small flocks of Canada Geese throughout the island.
Canada Geese
There were also plenty of Great Blue Heron photo ops.
Great Blue Heron
I even got lucky on a little bird!
Eastern Bluebird
Song Sparrow
And two final landscape views of Eastern Neck NWR’s beauty….
More cloud reflections
A view at the end of the Refuge’s Bogles Wharf Road.
I hope you enjoyed; and if you don’t live too far, stop by yourself for a visit!
Rafting Up With The Canvasbacks
They arrived and then they were gone, but at least for a few days this past week our community had an opportunity to watch a large raft of Canvasbacks feeding and resting just out beyond our Oyster Cove Osprey nest platform in Marshy Creek. With cloudy conditions the previous two days, it was good to come home late Thursday afternoon to partly sunny skies for better viewing.
Raft of male and female Canvasbacks.
More incoming Canvasbacks while the sun popped back behind a cloud.
The shape of the raft was ever-changing.
The raft got larger and larger as more and more continued to arrive.
That’s a lot of ducks!
In the next two photos, I’ve shown how the Canvasbacks would group up….
Canvasbacks grouping up as a team.
and then dive to the bottom to stir up plant-life to gobble up when they resurfaced.
Canvasbacks are underwater stirring up plant-life.
I think they were hanging around for the evening’s sunset. 🙂
Sunset February 12, 2015
At sunrise, I found they had stayed the night, further up in Marshy Creek.
And then just like that, they began to take flight.
Canvasbacks departing the raft.
I quickly looked for an Eagle for a possible scare, but didn’t see one. In seconds, all of the Canvasbacks were in the air and had turned, heading into the sunrise.
Departing into the sunrise
I guess it was time to move on! Unfortunately they were not close enough for a close-up capture of their real beauty so here’s one I took in February 2014 along our community’s riprap.
Male Canvasback
A visitor every year, we should see more Canvasbacks around Marshy Creek before they begin their migration back North in the next months.
A Visit to Bombay Hook NWR
Over this past Christmas holiday, Rick and I took a slight detour from visitations in the area one day to spend a couple late afternoon hours on the auto wildlife loop at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Dover, Delaware (about an hour from home). To get me back behind my camera. 🙂
The Snow Geese were the first thing to see when entering and passing Raymond Pool on our left.
Snow Geese
Just pass that view, there is a parking lot for a short trail to an observation tower overlooking Raymond Pool. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot but no one about. Which meant a lot of people at the tower? Oh yea….as I reached the top stair to the platform I had no where to go. People, cameras, and tripods filled the platform. I had several people already coming up behind me, pretty much pushing me forward. I squeezed up & through, took a few photos, and left. I was lucky that a flock flew in while I was up there!
The view of Snow Geese from Raymond Pool observation tower.
Another view of the Snow Geese
Incoming Snow Geese with my telephoto lens
Another capture of incoming
A Snow Goose gave me a wave
Walking back, I snapped a shot of a little bird before he high-tailed it into the brush. I believe it is a sparrow and will search the ID. I’m still learning the little birds. 🙂
Sparrow?
It was a gorgeous late afternoon!
View over the salt marshes, looking East
Far off in the distance, a Northern Harrier was flying over the salt marshes in search of dinner.
View over Shearness Pool, looking West
Further along the drive, a small flock of Canada Geese were feeding close to the road, a few Mallards mixed within….
Canada Geese
and a Great Blue Heron.
Canada Geese, Great Blue Heron, and a hiding Mallard
Canada Geese and Great Blue Heron
The three species got along with each other fine, no squabbles. The Great Blue Heron did go off to the side to do a little fishing.
Great Blue Heron “fishing”
A little further up the drive, another Great Blue Heron. I loved how the late afternoon sun shined on the back of his neck.
Great Blue Heron
I captured the next photo off to the right of him across the water.
A few more birds were there….
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintails
Greater Yellowlegs
As the sun headed down, more birds began to arrive.
Snow Geese coming in for the night
Here come more
Raymond Pool began to fill up with Snow Geese
In addition, a few Tundra Swan passed overhead and continued along their sky-route.
Tundra Swan
Tundra Swan
We departed as the sun was setting.
Sunset over Shearness Pool
It was good to be behind my camera once again. 🙂
Happy Valentine’s Day
In celebration of the day of love…..
Great Egret “Heart”
Happy Valentine’s Day, Everyone!
Another Interesting Visitor to Oyster Cove
Several days ago, while watching Canada Geese feeding and resting in the small cove off to the right of my balcony, I saw a duck that was noticeably different from our usual dabblers. My binoculars confirmed it was a male Gadwell. I’ve only sighted this species around our community waters a couple of times. This little fella was all alone and hung around the geese, I suspected for safety.
Male Gadwell
The next day I saw him again but he was wandering more out in the open waters, too far for a decent photo.
My next sighting was three days later. Eight male Gadwells were moving along in the waters just beyond our Osprey nest platform.
Male Gadwells
Male Gadwells
I didn’t see any females. What’s up with that, fellas? 🙂
Haven’t seen any of them since, but glad I did get to capture an infrequent winter visitor to our community waters for my records! 🙂
A Little Glimpse of Heaven….
Most times, I enjoy our sunrises on the way to work, rising across the farmlands of the Eastern Shore Maryland. Sometimes, it’s cloudy, maybe raining, and it’s just the lightening of the sky. And sometimes, it’s an extraordinary display of beauty; to me, like getting a little glimpse of Heaven for just a moment. This morning’s was one of those beauties. Still home, I got the chance to capture our gorgeous sunrise over the icy waters of Marshy Creek.
The sun has started its swing back towards the northeast so I cannot see the actual sunrise’s center-point from my third-floor balcony any longer.
So, of course, to ground-level I went. 🙂
Here are my two favorites from the series I shot.
Sunrise over icy Marshy Creek – February 7, 2015 @ 7:00 am
4 minutes later…..
What an awesome little glimpse….
An Interesting Visitor to the Platform
During the off-season of the Osprey, I’ve photographed quite a few ‘visitors’ to our Osprey nest platform besides the American Bald Eagle (my last post). The list includes the Great Blue Heron, numerous gulls, a Mallard, Green Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Boat-tailed Grackle, Crows, and Red-Winged Blackbird.
Looking out my window on a recent clear night, I thought I could make out a large shadow on the platform. Cool, I thought. I grabbed my binoculars to see if I could identify it and could make out the shape of an owl. He never made a sound and sat there for over an hour. I’m not able to identify what owl species. I know we have Great Horned Owls across Marshy Creek at CBEC, so maybe a GHO?
This was the first time I’ve sighted an owl on the platform. I gave it a shot to try and capture/document my discovery. The photo is terrible (and it became my best, ugh!) because I’m not very good at night photography (still learning!) but I wanted to share.
He seemed quite content perched there, and I was tickled with my capture! 🙂
Eagle Activity Around Oyster Cove
Here around the Chesapeake Bay, the winter cold has settled in, and the migratory birds have arrived. It’s also a busy time for our local area’s American Bald Eagles. Since November, pairs have been hard-working on their nests as well as reconnecting their commitment to each other. If a pair has successfully mated, the female should be close to or has already laid her egg brood for this season and is busy keeping them warm. Our locals also have to deal with protecting their territory from other busy local Eagles as well as migratory Eagles from the far North who winter around the Chesapeake Bay area.
I always see this time of year as the best opportunity to see our local Eagles on a frequent basis, perched on a tree over at Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (CBEC) or on one of our channel markers, or soaring the skies around us. It is a joy to watch a pair become playful as the male will fly and swoop around his girl, sometimes giving a little tap with the wing while she plays “catch me if you can”. Click here to see “Eagle love” from a previous post. To get the opportunity to watch a pair mate in the sky as they entwine and fall precariously to the ground (called “cartwheeling”) is extraordinary. Click here to see a previous post of mine with my lucky captures!
And what a delight it has been to look out my window and see an eagle (or two!) on our Oyster Cove community’s osprey nest platform, taking a break while keeping a watchful eye out for other intruding eagles. Our community is so lucky to get these opportunities with our cameras and binoculars.
American Bald Eagles (female on the right) who live over at CBEC
We have two local pair of Eagles that I’ve been watching, who like to irritate each other, which gives great entertainment for us. When the pair above either together or singularly visits our platform, the other pair who appear to live over at Kent Island will hang out on the Kent Narrows southend entrance markers, to show their presence, together or singularly as well.
When this happens, we can have a ‘vocal’ war.
The other(s) will reply and then it continues for a brief period. What entertainment, I love it! Pretty cool to hear too!
For those in the community with telephoto lens or binoculars, the next photos will show where the pair of Eagles that visit our platform perch and nest over at CBEC which we can see from our property. Note the osprey nest platform in the photos at CBEC for reference.
CBEC Eagles
The next photos show their nest location. I can see it better with my binoculars, wish I had a longer lens to show you better!
Eagle Nest – note osprey nest platform at far right and tree line to locate.
Look for the ‘darkness’ amongst the trees, you may also catch one of the Eagles coming or going from the nest!
A few more photos of the CBEC Eagle pair….
Lippincott Channel Marker
Hi there…..
Keep on visiting us!
Bay Photos by Donna 