Monday, March 27, 2006
Terrapin Park 03-27-06
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Today I went to Terrapin Park on the Eastern Shore in Maryland. It is a part of the Queen Anne’s County Department of Parks. This is another bad park page, but I have to give them credit since it looks like they were trying. But they are due for a massive makeover. This park is the Eastern terminus of the “Cross Island Trail” – the Island being Kent Island (parks map). You do need to take care as there is no sign indicating that you need to step off the paved trail in order to walk the park trails or you could wind up inadvertently walking down the Cross Island Trail.
I was not feeling well this morning and took the day off from work, but wanted to get out for some air and picked what I thought was a tiny park. It turned out to be much bigger than I thought. I’ve gotten some of my most interesting photos wildlife wise from this park. I uploaded pictures of about 4 kinds of birds, a rabbit, some turtles, a frog, an insect and what is probably a beaver. I saw some more kinds of birds some I couldn’t get a picture of and others the pictures weren’t really interesting enough to upload.
This is a great if hard to find spot. There are no signs that I could see from the main road. You have to drive through a new industrial area to get to it. Here is an aerial photo of the place. There are a few nice spots at this park. They have a pond with two duck blinds. No birds were visible in the pond, but I looked up and spotted a beautiful bird of prey which I later discovered is an Osprey. I had to double check since I thought these were hard to get a glimpse of and there was no such difficulty here. They have an open meadow area which isn’t interesting yet, but it will be soon according to a sign that was present. There is a raised viewing platform suggesting it is worth a return visit. There is a fairly long trail along the beach of the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay Bridge is visible along the entire length as well as the Western Shore. I had the opportunity to watch a southbound container ship as well. There are benches located in several places along the trail including on the beach, so this is a good spot to just sit and watch. Most of the wildlife action was in the pond, however. The best place to park yourself is on the trail that splits the pond. I found the presence of other people in the park would cause bird traffic. That is also where I saw what I think is a beaver and it just kept moving across the pond this way and that. I also scored some excellent shots of a Downy Woodpecker and a Great Blue Heron. But my favorite shots would have to be the beautiful Osprey.
It is important to note that if you don’t slow down and swivel your head around you’re going to miss some great sights in any place. I would have marched right on by the Downy Woodpecker without noticing it had I not been looking this way and that. I was able to maneuver around on the trail to get some shots and it didn’t hardly pay me any attention. It is also important to find a good potential viewing spot and just stop and be silent and still and something will pop up. Like the turtle in the water that I got a picture of. I tried to get a better picture but it dived underwater with impressive speed when I moved. Also, don’t get bummed out when one of a park’s attractions comes up empty, like the duck blinds did here. Keep looking, be patient, go slow and keep looking around. You may come across something completely unexpected, like I did with the rabbit in the middle of the path.
Today I went to Terrapin Park on the Eastern Shore in Maryland. It is a part of the Queen Anne’s County Department of Parks. This is another bad park page, but I have to give them credit since it looks like they were trying. But they are due for a massive makeover. This park is the Eastern terminus of the “Cross Island Trail” – the Island being Kent Island (parks map). You do need to take care as there is no sign indicating that you need to step off the paved trail in order to walk the park trails or you could wind up inadvertently walking down the Cross Island Trail.I was not feeling well this morning and took the day off from work, but wanted to get out for some air and picked what I thought was a tiny park. It turned out to be much bigger than I thought. I’ve gotten some of my most interesting photos wildlife wise from this park. I uploaded pictures of about 4 kinds of birds, a rabbit, some turtles, a frog, an insect and what is probably a beaver. I saw some more kinds of birds some I couldn’t get a picture of and others the pictures weren’t really interesting enough to upload.
This is a great if hard to find spot. There are no signs that I could see from the main road. You have to drive through a new industrial area to get to it. Here is an aerial photo of the place. There are a few nice spots at this park. They have a pond with two duck blinds. No birds were visible in the pond, but I looked up and spotted a beautiful bird of prey which I later discovered is an Osprey. I had to double check since I thought these were hard to get a glimpse of and there was no such difficulty here. They have an open meadow area which isn’t interesting yet, but it will be soon according to a sign that was present. There is a raised viewing platform suggesting it is worth a return visit. There is a fairly long trail along the beach of the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay Bridge is visible along the entire length as well as the Western Shore. I had the opportunity to watch a southbound container ship as well. There are benches located in several places along the trail including on the beach, so this is a good spot to just sit and watch. Most of the wildlife action was in the pond, however. The best place to park yourself is on the trail that splits the pond. I found the presence of other people in the park would cause bird traffic. That is also where I saw what I think is a beaver and it just kept moving across the pond this way and that. I also scored some excellent shots of a Downy Woodpecker and a Great Blue Heron. But my favorite shots would have to be the beautiful Osprey.
It is important to note that if you don’t slow down and swivel your head around you’re going to miss some great sights in any place. I would have marched right on by the Downy Woodpecker without noticing it had I not been looking this way and that. I was able to maneuver around on the trail to get some shots and it didn’t hardly pay me any attention. It is also important to find a good potential viewing spot and just stop and be silent and still and something will pop up. Like the turtle in the water that I got a picture of. I tried to get a better picture but it dived underwater with impressive speed when I moved. Also, don’t get bummed out when one of a park’s attractions comes up empty, like the duck blinds did here. Keep looking, be patient, go slow and keep looking around. You may come across something completely unexpected, like I did with the rabbit in the middle of the path.
