Gilbert Run Park in Charles County, MD

Gilbert Run Park is a pretty little park near Charlotte Hall, MD with a fair amount of amenities like a snack bar, a lake, fishing, boat rentals in the season, picnic tables, recreation for kids, birds, and trails.  I like the bridge connecting the boats to a picnic area.  There are sometimes birds nearby.  On this particular day, I saw a family of little ducks swimming closely together for safety, followed by the unusual black duck (muscovy?) and a young boy slowly following these ducks and geese in the lake.  

Such cute little ducklings, possibly mallards

The follower

I think this is a black muscovy, but I'm not entirely sure.  It was unusual.  I think they sometimes have a white patch of feathers, but I didn't see that.  The red warts on the face are more extensive on males, so this is probably male.

Visit to Sunrise Garden in North Beach, MD

We visited the Sunrise garden by the boardwalk in North Beach, hoping that it would be prettier in Spring than in Summer.  It is actually nicer in summer.  It is an art garden, complete with creative sculptures made of recycled materials like driftwood and metal parts.  We saw some mallards, lots of koi in the water, yellow flag iris, a small dianthus grouping, along with the pretty little waterfalls.  I was surprised to see water lilies this early in the season.

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

We visited St.Michael's MD and spent some time at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  I enjoyed walking up to the cupula of the 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse to see the view.

     Hooper Strait Lighthouse framed by the Edna E Lockwood Bugeye

     Lighthouse with a leading line

     The Fresnell lens light

    Steps to the top

    The view from the lighthouse

     Rainy day mallard pair reflection

     Tonging for oysters

   Working Boatyard

     Volunteer "Doc" building a Draketail