Birds and Brambles

I've been furloughed for more than a month, along with 800,000 other federal employees. On Friday, I believe a friend and I were responsible for reopening the government. We went out to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge to take photographs of birds and started idly talking about plans for photography excursions next week. When we got back in the car and to where I had cell service, I had a text from another friend saying, "It's Over!" Apparently, we should have started photography trips earlier in the shutdown!

Anyway, Friday was a lovely day. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It has more nesting Bald Eagles that almost anywhere else in the country. I believe it. I saw more of them, adult and juvenile, than I've ever seen in one place. We also saw swans, geese, ducks, hawks, and many other birds.

Tundra swans and Canada Geese

 A Bald Eagle perched on a dead tree.

 Another view of the bald eagle.

 Dry grasses.

 Looking out over the bay

 Ducks

We watched this heron hunting for several minutes.

 Mallards

 We took a short walk on one of the little trails in the refuge. This pine tree had interesting lichens on the bark.

 The remains of what was once a steam powered sawmill

 Fungus on a tree.

 Juvenile Bald Eagle

A Bald Eagle with a fish in its talons (click to enlarge).

Yesterday, we explored the Overall Run area of Shenandoah National Park with my cousin, her husband, their oldest, and a friend of ours. A few weeks ago, my cousin contacted me and said that we have an ancestor buried inside Shenandoah NP. The grave is listed in Lambert's, "The Undying Past of Shenandoah National Park." With a very rough, three-sentence description from the book, we set out yesterday hoping to find the grave. We fought our way through lots of greenbriar and blackberry bushes. We weren't successful, but we had a really nice walk in the woods (no day outside is wasted) and we found some interesting ruins. We also have some ideas for further searching.

 Ice in a puddle on the trail.

 An old gear

 An old pot on the ground.

Overall Run