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Spring Returns

We had a beautiful early March day yesterday with temperatures reaching the low 70's and I went out to Jug Bay to soak in all in. Packed my gear and lunch and spent many hours hiking the trails and just quietly sitting at various observation points.

Spotted Green-wing Teals, Pintails, and American Black Ducks,Canadian Geese (of course), and even a gorgeous Long-tailed Duck. Also saw Downy Woodpecker (left), Great Blue Herons (below), Red-winged Blackbird, Blue Bird, Titmouse, Cardinals, Carolina Wren, and - a first siting for me - a Red-headed Woodpecker. In the marsh waters, the red-bellied turtles were out and soaking in the rays and industrious muskrats were foraging amongst the old cattail stands. On the way back I ran into two other park volunteers searching for salamanders and at the visitor center I heard that the first Osprey had been spotted this morning.


Spring is returning to Jug Bay.

Cardinal in the Snow

We had a beautiful snowstorm this week to usher in March. Six to eight inches of heavy snow is covering the western shore of the Chesapeake and this morning its a brisk 10 F outside.

The cardinal in the snow is one of my favorites from another heavy storm a few years ago.

The second image is of a country road the day last week's heavy snow. The snow fell wet and heavy covering all the tree branches but then it got real cold freezing it in place. A winter wonderland.

Visit my gallery for more winter scenes.

Sunset over Jug Bay

This image is taken from the overlook near the Visitor Center at the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary. Its winter and the waters of Jug Bay are clear of the lush covering of spatterdock lilies that cover the river in the rest of the year. Now there is just a broad expanse of shallows stretching from riverbank to riverbank.


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Love Birds

In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I'd present these two love birds. Black Noddy Terns, they were photographed building their nest on Heron Island, Australia in November 2007. The island, a coral cay in the Great Barrier Reef, is a major nesting site for these delicate black terns, with upwards of 100,000 birds nesting on the island every Australian spring along with reef herons and wedge-tailed shearwaters. The island - which is home to an eco-resort as well as the University of Queensland's Heron Island Research Station - is also an important nesting site for green and loggerhead turtles and a diversity of other sea life.

View more photos from "Down Under"

Canadian Goose on Ice

The big freeze is over - for now - and the ice is melting away. This picture is of a Canadian Goose at Huntley Meadows, a small slice of nature on the south side of Alexandria, Virginia.

Canadian Geese winter in the Chesapeake area and feed on the abundant grain remnants on local farms. In fact, the pickings are so bountiful, many geese stay in the area year round instead of migrating - as their name would indicate - to Canada in summer. While once once considered threatened, their numbers have rebounded to the point of being that the non-migratory geese are considered a nuisance often eating food source traditionally used by other creatures.

At Jug Bay staff and volunteers have gone to much effort to fence in stands of wild rice to protect them from the voracious geese in the spring and summer. These steps have helped the wild rice, which is important many birds species to rebound dramatically at Jug Bay.

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Winter's Ducks

Here is a nice winter scene to commemorate our first major snow of the year. I took this image a few years ago right after a larger snowstorm. It shows a bufflehead duck swimming across a nearby pond. Its striking white and black markings allowing it to blend into the snowy landscape.

The bufflehead is one of several duck species that breed in the lakes of the great boreal forests of Canada and then fly south to the Chesapeake Bay region. While hundreds of thousands of ducks still winter in the area, their numbers have decreased in the past half century, mainly due to degradation of the Bay.

View more winter photographs in my gallery.

Maryland Statehouse, Annapolis

With the Maryland General Assembly having started its session, I decided to go out to Annapolis yesterday and take some photographs of the Maryland Statehouse. I got this interesting image of the Statehouse cupola with the state flag in the foreground.

The Maryland League of Conservation Voters is hosting an Environmental Summit and Legislative Kick-Off on Monday, January 26th at the capitol. The meeting will include presentations from top state officials, expert briefings on the top environmental issues, and information about the MDLCV's legislative priorities. See their website for more information.

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The Capitol

Less than four days are left until the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as our new President. With an array of troubles, the nation waits and hopes for new era of better government. Among those hopes are the desire for a progressive energy policy and a scientifically grounded environmental policy. Let send our prays and thoughts out for our new President.

This stylized image protrays the monuments of the National Mall taken from near the Iwo Jima Memorial at sunset. From right to left, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the US Capitol Building. Its based on a photograph taken back in '04.

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American Bald Eagle

This photo was taken on the Eastern Shore of Maryland at the Pickering Creek Audubon Center in February '08. Taken with a 300 mm lens while the eagle soared some several hundred feet above the shoreline. The image was not quite as sharp as I liked so I intentionally added a canvas texture to give it the feel of a painting.

The bald eagle population has recovered well since the worst days of the 1950's and 1960's when the population was devastated by the effects of the pesticide DDT. From a low of 487 nesting pairs in the "lower 48" in 1963, there are now estimated to be over 12,000 nests. The Chesapeake Bay is home to one of the higher concentrations of eagles outside of Alaska. The eagles where removed from the Endangered and Threatened Species List in 2007 however the greatest threat today is continued habitat loss to development.

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New Direction

I'm changing the focus of this blog slightly to show a Picture of the Week while still focusing on the conservation message of the photo. I hope you enjoy and welcome feedback.

- Rogard

South River Greenway

I've been following efforts to establish the South River Greenway in Anne Arundel County. Although I have been most active in the Maryland's flagship Patuxent Watershed, my home is actually just across a ridgeline in the more compact South River Watershed. While the broad, tidal South River stretches to the Chesapeake Bay south of Annapolis, the upper watershed reaches up a series of small creeks and streams between wooded ridges from Annapolis out to Davidsonville, Crofton, and Millersville.

In a prime location between Annapolis, Baltimore, and Washington D.C., development pressure in the area is high. Much of the tidal river's shoreline is already developed, as is the western boundary in Crofton. Other subdivisions weave through the area, particularly along Rt 450 which bisects the watershed. Yet much of the land is still rural, consisting of small farms, 800 acres of wetlands and 6000 acres of undeveloped forests. The state, county, and Annapolis city own 2500 acres of land and many more acres are protected by forest conservation easements.

The Scenic Rivers Land Trust, a local Anne Arundel based organization, is leading the effort to expand protection for the area. The SRLT is hosting a set of meeting on the Greenway on January 22nd

Links:
Fact Sheet
Scenic Rivers Land Trust received a grant award of $50,000