Nocturnal Woodland Pool

Shallow Woodland Flows

The Elk Neck peninsula is basically all glacial till and in some areas the surface soil is thick clay with some thin skin of organic overlay.  In a large stretch of the woodland behind our house it is quite flat so that small depressions of a foot or less collect the run-off rain water and form these delightful small pool-ponds which though neither deep or long lasting enough to maintain a true aquatic life environment they do have an abundance of frogs, salamanders, and other amphibious life, along with the occasional water snake.  Friends of mine that grew up here when we were kids named a very large one of these nearer their home Lake Lovely and skated there often in the winter.  

Five Canvassback Photos

First shot

- then gone

Romania - Italy

Welcome Romania and Italy - quite a few of my foreign visitors have been dropping away lately so I was glad to see you guys looking through.  Hoping you return again, Norvellhimself.

Canvasback - Aýthya valisinéria

I feel really lucky today as I have yet to photograph one of the most famous waterfowl of our area.  Since the days of uncountable waterfowl being harvested in obscenely vast quantities by market gunners through today when conservationists have prevented their extinction the Canvasback has been touted both as a symbol of the Chesapeake and as the ultimate in gourmet dining.  But regardless it is a beautiful and uncommon sight in the North East River.  This male was swimming in open waters of the still frozen river at North East Isles, a place of condominium type housing between the Pennsylvania Railroad and  the river where in my fathers day incredible amounts of gravel dredged from the flats were loaded aboard railroad cars to be carried afar to cities for construction. In my youth it was just an abandoned pier where people came to swim and carry on with campfires and drinking long into the night.