Jack-in-the-Pulpits and Prothonotaries

Over the past weekend, my son and I took our first canoe trip of the spring down the Choptank.  The water was high, and we glided down the river with very little effort.  The water was cool the air was warm, and small birds were flitting among the budding-out branches.  best birds of the trip included Ospreys, three bright yellow and blue-gray Prothonotary Warblers, a Yellow Warbler, some Blue-gray gnatcatchers, a female Mallard with a brand-new brood, and a Green Heron.  The canoe let us slip right up on these, without making a sound.  Overhead, there was the constant refrain of Laughing Gulls, reminding us that this was a river close to the bay.

As we cruised downstream, we also saw our first Jack-in-the Pulpits of the year, as well as some almost-open Indian Cucumber Root.   Ferns were unfurling fiddleheads all along the bank, and  the sound of turtles plopping into the water was almost constant.

We put-in at Red Bridges, and took our canoe out of the water in Greensboro at the Carnival Grounds.  The river above Greensboro is unspoiled for three-fourths of the way, and we only saw a couple of other people the entire trip.