The first time I ever went to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, many years ago, I had the pleasure of witnessing the sunrise while crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. I say pleasure because I had not planned it right and didn't know how far I had to drive (no smart phone at the time, no google maps, and no proper prior planning) and while I was less than half way there I got to see the sunrise and realized I had blew it, and would be more than an hour "late" for sunrise...
Pretty much every visit since, over 50 easily in the last 9 or 10 years I've made it to Blackwater before sunrise, sometimes 45 minutes before... It is around a 100 miles to drive for me, and can take nearly 2 hours in the early morning. And it is totally worth it. Here are a couple sunrises from Blackwater that were awesome/epic/wow'd me, etc... Any many more here.
And finally this sunrise, from my second visit when I did actually make it in time for sunrise... ( Taken on December 16, 2006)
In March 2016 I think the weather wasn't supposed to be great and I slept in and then decided anyway to go east, and instead of getting up at 4am I got up at 5:30am or something. As I was driving I saw the amazing sunrise and these strange clouds and it was something to see. So for the first time, I stopped on the East side of the Bay Bridge at sunrise and went to the marina there.
Previously I'd shot the Snowy Owl that was there in the evening, while coming back from the Eastern Shore:
All that lead up to show off these two images I've shared so far from this spot... I shot a bunch, walked on the docks a bit, shot looking east, looking west, and took a few hundred photos. Then I continued east and hit a couple other spots without going to Blackwater.
Empty Docks
Sunrise @ Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Finally, here's a 'contact sheet' from the images I processed and rated from this day in March 2016. I've only posted the 2 above so far. There might be another couple to post from the sunrise timeframe... Later in the day the images were not unique, though it was fun to see the osprey early in the season the ducks as well.
If you're wondering about how I rate images, here it is:
1= come back and find this image and process it later.
2=used for an automated image/hdr creation, not editing by itself for single export
3=any edited image that is not rated higher
4=hdr images (TIF's then processed and exported), or regular images that are a "4". So just because an HDR is a 4 doesn't mean it is an image I really like.
5=highest rating, any image that I REALLY like...
Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/
Nikographer.com / Jon
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Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Sunrise at Hemingways near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge March 2016
Friday, June 19, 2009
Blackwater NWR - Bald Eagles in June
I've been in to photography and eagles for coming up on 4 years, and I've been going to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge for the majority of that time. For whatever reason I've had gaps in when I've been to Blackwater. June was one of those gaps, the bald eagles have recently fledged in the area and the osprey have young chicks.
Here's one of the adults, possibly from the cam-nest:
I went a few days ago to Blackwater, read on for more.
I've been to Blackwater around 45 or 50 times, starting in about December 2005. It really helps to go some where a lot. Things like where exactly the eagle cam-nest is, or habits of the eagles can be learned by spending a lot of time at a refuge like Blackwater. While I like to share all sorts of images from a place like Blackwater, I think people should put in the time themselves to visit a favorite place and learn its special details.
It took a couple years to just find some fox kits, and that was last year, this year I've been a few times and struck out even though I know I was close:
The above is from early April 2008, when the kits may have been just a few weeks old.
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So, my recent trip has resulted in seeing quite a few just fledged bald eagles. One was perched with its parents right off of Key Wallace Drive near the visitor's center:
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The next images are from right off of the Wildlife Drive. The pair of adults (probably the cam-nest pair) were perched on a pole together watching their territory. Another (neighbor) bald eagle was hidden in the grass out of my sight, but in their sight, and after a couple moments all the eagles hit the air:
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Near the cam-nest is another nest, that's closer to the Wildlife Drive. There's just tons of eagle's nests in the area so, being surprised that there's a nest here or there is not what you should be thinking. Taking some time to just look around almost anywhere at Blackwater, you will probably find/see a nest.
Roughly between the cam-nest and the other nest I spotted 3 Juvenile Bald Eagles all perched together. Young eagles have a way of calling out like the little kids that they are, and listening revealed them to me this time...
And finally, here's a bald eagle hanging out in the grass at the refuge, right off of the Wildlife Drive as well.
Unlike some other spots I've visited on multiple occasions, Blackwater NWR in Maryland never disappoints. There are more than a hundred resident eagles, and there are Golden Eagles there too, as well as osprey, herons, hawks, harriers and all sorts of great wildlife to see. I've got a set on flickr devoted to Blackwater NWR here with a variety of things I've seen...
-Jon
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