Excursion

We took a trip with some friends to the Eastern Shore. Part of the fun, of course, is crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel -- 17.6 miles of cool views, awesome engineering. Only, we had some fog for the trip out. Still, in addition to gulls, I spotted ganet and a pelican.



We stayed in a very nice lodge at Kiptopeke State Park.

sunset at Kiptopeke

I snuck in some birdwatching. Here's a list (of what I could identify):

common loon
double crested cormorant
mallard
lesser scaup
bufflehead
red-breasted merganser
brown pelican
northern gannet
herring gull
great black-backed gull
great blue heron
black-bellied plover
killdeer
red-tailed hawk
osprey
vulture
downy woodpecker
crow
blue jay
carolina chickafee
tufted titmouse
carolina wren
catbird
mockingbird
eastern bluebird
robin
yellow-rumped warbler
red-winged blackbird
grackle
cardinal
white-throated sparrow

I always misremember that the full quotation from Cosmos that includes the phrase "the ocean calls" as actually describing being drawn to the shore, rather than the metaphor it is. Still, I explain to myself in Carl Sagan's voice that it's weird, supernatural how the water draws me. This weekend, it cheered and refreshed me, too.