Blackwater NWR

Saturday, 25 July

Friday after work we headed off to Cambridge, Maryland, stopping en route for dinner at the Fisherman’s Inn, located in Kent Narrows on the Eastern Shore.  What the restaurant lacks in ambiance, it makes up for in tasty Maryland crab cakes.

The 226-mile (364 km) roundtrip drive was too long for an overnighter in the Phaeton, so we left the coach at home and opted to stay at the Comfort Inn & Suites in Cambridge instead.  At $160/night (incl. taxes) it was a bit pricey, but ‘tis still the high season in this area, so we bit the bullet.  For that rate, we got a clean, spacious room with a separate sitting area, and hi-speed wi-fi and breakfast, though we checked out too early this morning to take advantage of the latter. 

The drive to Cambridge is an easy shot on Route 50.  Though we traveled during rush
hour on a Friday, traffic was light and we didn’t hit any snags along the way.

Our destination was the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.  We could have just driven down for the day, of course, and saved ourselves some big bucks on the hotel room, but we wanted to be at the refuge bright and early, so staying overnight in Cambridge worked out better for us.

Arriving shortly after 6:30a, we certainly made it to Blackwater NWR early, but it wasn’t bright by any stretch of the imagination.  I have no idea what happened to the sunshine that was forecasted when we made our plans, but we didn’t see one single ray the entire time we were there.  In fact, our morning was overcast with low, grey clouds and occasional sprinkles here and there.

Since the light was so dull, I didn’t take any landscape pictures of this very scenic refuge this time.  In hindsight, I probably should have taken at least a photo of the brand new observation deck that just opened on August 12.  The 200-foot (60 m) long deck overlooks the Blackwater River marshlands and is a great place from which to observe the birds and waterfowl … when they are there to be seen.  We were skunked here, but it made a nice breakfast spot for us.  And we did see a bald eagle perched in a tree far, far away.

(Scenery shots (and wildlife, of course) from our April 2008 trip are in this gallery.)

My goal on this trip was to practice with my Wimberley gimbal head and also test a 400mm prime lens I rented against my 70-200mm lens (not that I have any plans to get rid of my 70-200mm; that one’s a definite keeper).  The prime lens was nice, but no comparison to my shorter zoom lens, which is far superior and gives me the same reach with the 2x extender with no noticeable degradation of quality.

Following is a selection of photos from the Wildlife Drive.  We made two runs on this road, which we had to ourselves until around 8:00a.  Then, all of two cars drove by without stopping except to ask us if we’d seen anything interesting.  I wanted to say, “Yes, and so would you if you got out of the car and spent some time here.”  But I was nice, and just told them what we’d seen.

In addition to the usual suspects of ospreys, great blue herons, and egrets, there were some small birds, such as semipalmated plovers, yellowlegs, gulls, and terns.  But neither lens had sufficient reach for the small birds, so we focused on the big birds instead.  Mui played with whichever lens I wasn’t using, reliving memories of his days taking still photographs before he got into videography.  Hence, there’s a combination of photos from both of us.

First, some shots of ospreys …

… and some great blue herons …

... Mui playing with the 400 mm lens ...

… here’s the lone greater yellowlegs I saw; a juvenile from the plumage …

… some great egrets …

… for a change of pace, a beaver …

… one of a pair of eagles that took off just as we arrived at the stand of trees where we had our best eagle sighting in 2008 (check out the gallery linked above) …

On our second time through, we decided to use the Key Wallace Drive to exit the refuge.  We were hoping to get a closer glimpse of the blue-winged teals that are making a migratory stop here.  Unfortunately, they were too far away for any decent pictures.  The drive wasn’t without its rewards, however, as we had our closest great egret sightings before and after the end of this drive.

This egret took off from the tree it was perched on just as we came upon it.  I took the photos from inside the car; luckily Mui’s window was down …

… and this great egret was strutting about a roadside farm …

And that’s the story of our morning at Blackwater NWR.  By 10:30a, we were on the road back home.  Despite the dreary day, we stopped at the Queen Anne County Visitor Center in Kent Narrows to eat our packed lunch.  Then it was back on the road again.  There was more traffic on the trip home, but we’ve seen worse on this road, so no complaints.  And we never came to a complete stop; which is unusual for a weekend even if we were going away from the beaches!  That’s a good thing.

For those who want to see more; there’s more from this trip in my online gallery for Blackwater.