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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.

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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.

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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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