Sunday, October 31, 2010

Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge


I visited with a lady at Cape May who recommended Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge. It is located just north of the amazing Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.  There are actually two wildlife refuges here - Eastern Shore and Fisherman Island.  Because of their location at the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula, it is an important place for migrating songbirds, monarch butterflies, and raptors.  

I was up and out for the sunrise and my first priority was to choose a sunrise spot with reflecting water.  Unfortunately the place I chose had restrictions I wasn't familiar with - and I was told by the person in charge that I had ten minutes to do my sunrise photography.  I had chosen the boat ramp area that apparently is exclusively for fishermen - commercial and recreational.

 
 I did the best I could with my ten minutes and went on to the bird blind at the top of a small rise. It was a beautiful morning. I saw a sharp shinned hawk and a bald eagle. I saw small unorganized flocks of songbirds finishing their night migration flight.  I saw another flock with more organization that I thought might have been blue jays, but they never got close enough for me to be sure.   The photography blind was great, but I'm not sure the openings were large enough for my Sigma 300-800mm lens to fit through.  

This area deserved more of my time, but the need to have time in fall foliage before the trip was over was weighing on me.  So after spending some quiet time at the blind we moved on south.

1 comment:

Charcuterie Recipes said...

Interesting reaad