Blackwater NWR day trip 

On Saturday, March 5, Art Schiavo & I attended a PSO birding trip in Blackwater NWR located near Cambridge. Maryland. http://www.fws.gov/refuge/blackwater

The scheduled meeting time was 8am in Cambridge leaving us time for breakfast at the Comfort Inn before the event. We arrived at the 7:50am to find almost 20 people in attendance including the tour leader Chad Kauffman. After introduction the birding started in earnest, with rafts for Canvasbacks, Greater/Lesser Scaup, Snow geese, Long Tailed Ducks, Common Loon, Bufflehead, Surf Scoter and Golden-eye seen for the parking lot area and adjoining park.....that we drove a short too.

Snow geese

Surf Scoter

After spending about 1 hour at the inlet area, we traveling to Blackwater Visitors Center. Upon arriving at the visitors center, we had a Kestrel and several Horned Larks in the parking lot area. After a short visit and tour of the VC, we headed for the wildlife loop tour road. A section of the road was closed due to nesting wildlife so we did not get to travel the tire the entire route.

 Our first stop was the woods trail area, where we walked a short trail looking for brown-headed nuthatch...we had no luck on the trail, so we decided to walk the closed section of the tour road (which was allowed) and after about a 1/2 mile we where rewarded with several looks at not only brown-headed nuthatch, but excellent looks at several brown creepers and golden crowned kinglets.

Brown Headed Nut (photo from All about Birds)

We then proceeded to along the wildlife drive, stopping several times to observe waterfowl and other species including: Bald Eagles on nest, Snow Geese, Tundra Swans, Northern Shovelers, and American Wigeon plus many other species.

Snow Geese in flight

The wildlife driving tour took us about 3 hours to complete ending at around 1:30 pm.....Art & I decided decided to start for home while the rest of the tour group was going to make make at least one more stop in the Cambridge area and then stop at the Chesapeake Environmental center (where we stopped on the way down) before returning.

We ended the the trip with 66 species and several FOY's (first of year species). I plan to return to Blackwater NWR later in the year with Quttapahilla Audubon Society..more to come on this trip.

Not all that wander are lost.

Visit to Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center, Garsonville, Md

On Friday, March 4, two of us left Cornwall at 9am to travel to Blackwater NWR for a scheduled birding trip on Saturday, March 5 with PSO. http://www.pabirds.org/Index.html

We planned to bird on the way down and decided to check out the CBEC....it was a rather cold, windy day when we arrived and met up up with two follow birders to walk around  and check out the area.

We did not see the thousand's of waterfowl species that have been reported recently..mostly due to a clipper snow storm that moved thru the area the night before.


However, we where not entirely disappointed (it's always good to be out birding)  and we did end the 2 1/2 hour chilly visit with 37 species including: Canvasback, Towhee, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Fox Sparrow and Yellow Rumped Warblers.

Canvasbacks in flight over bay and small lake area.

Hundreds of Greater/Lesser Scaup in flight

 Fox Sparrow

All in all, it was a nice visit and everyone in the group had a least one FOY (1st of year species)  for the visit.

I am planning to add this area to the QAS field trip list for 2016/17 and plan on returning before that for the kayak tour they offer in the summer months,

Now on the Blackwater NWR, located near Cambridge, Maryland....that report will be entered in the next few days.


Not all that wander are lost.

PA Bald Eagle Nest Cam - POV View

PA Bald Eagle Nest Cam - POV View: PA Bald Eagle Nest Cam - POV View - Powered By HDOnTap.com - Professional Live Webcam Streaming Services & Hardware.

Here's a link to the Pennsylvania Game Commission Hanover Eagle cam...currently has 2 eggs not yet hatched.

Hope you enjoy.

Not all that wander are lost.