Ospreys Abound

by Jefferson Holland

Summer for me means one thing: ospreys. How wonderful that they’ve made such an amazing comeback over the past 50 years. Here in Annapolis, there’s a nest on just about every green daymarker in city waters.

When my daughter was a little girl, we lived in a cottage on a beach at the mouth of Back Creek. The ospreys would start to return from Central America in late March and the males would immediately get to work rebuilding their nests. We would scatter the beach with twigs and branches and watch the birds swoop down to snatch the sticks up in their talons. Once we tied a ribbon around one particular twig, then over the summer, we canoed around the creek until we spotted the nest with the ribbon.

Summer also means playing in, on or at least around, the water. In this issue, we’ll take a tour of Talbot County with some talented writers, thanks to the sponsorship of Talbot County, Maryland. You’ll bike across the Tred Avon River aboard a ferry, kayak down Tuckahoe Creek in search of the birthplace of Frederick Douglass, ramble through all the delightful independent bookstores, go birding at Pickering Creek Audubon Center, tour an eccentric collection of antique steam-driven tractors, and reconnoiter restaurants in search of innovative recipes featuring oysters and rockfish and crabs. Oh, my.

For playing in the water, John Page Williams presents a review of an update on the classic Everglades 243 Center Console. He’ll also take us under the water to meet some of the most important fish in the Bay—all the little ones. Angus Phillips introduces us to renowned sport fisherman Shawn Kimbro, who’s easing up on rockfish to concentrate on another fish that’s just as much fun to catch and eat: white perch.

Award-winning writer Marty LeGrand takes us to Virginia’s Atlantic coast, where preservationists are working to save an area of treasured islands whose wild beauty rivals the Everglades. It’s illustrated with stunning images by aerial photographer Gordon Campbell of the At Altitude Gallery in Cape Charles, Virginia.

Then I’ll share my plans to circumnavigate the Bay— not by boat, but by car, with my new little teardrop trailer in tow. I’ve picked seven waterfront parks where I can camp and find fun places to explore by kayak.

It’s summer on the Chesapeake—go play in the water.