Calling all bird-watchers
If you want unfettered access to bald eagles, you might consider heading to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. The Associated Press is reporting high numbers of America's signature bird at the wildlife preserve near Cambridge. Here's the story.
Though once endangered, the eagles have made a comeback in the Chesapeake Bay region, which now has about 8 percent of the nation's nesting pairs. Maryland has so many eagles now - close to 400 - that we gave some to Vermont so the Green Mountain state could establish populations there.
One place you probably can't go to watch the national raptors - Aberdeen Proving Ground. Two years ago, staff was kind enough to let me in to their restricted areas to look at the many nesting pairs on the Harford County base. The eagles, apparently undaunted by both the loud military activity and the rumblings of BRAC, which will bring thousands more families to Harford County.
I report on the environment and Chesapeake Bay. A native of West Virginia, I have focused mainly on Maryland's environment since moving here in 1983. Along the way, I've crewed aboard a skipjack in the bay, canoed under city streets up the Jones Fall from the Inner Harbor, and gone deep underground in a western Maryland coal mine. Recently, I have been covering the growth and development transforming the landscape. I love seafood, rambles in the country and good stories. I hope to share some here.
