The Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay was formed over 11000 years ago. Native American tribes centered their world around Chesepoic - the country of the great rivers. The Boardwalk existed as early as 1930 which was just two blocks long in those days. It was rebuilt many times after being destroyed by hurricanes. The present one is about half a mile long and is a meeting place for the local residents. I found the best time to click pictures was during sunrise.

People having their morning walk, some jog while others take their dogs for a morning walk.

Fishing enthusiasts would turn up early in the hope of making a catch.

There was a band (The Winstons) playing in the evening and I captured a part of their performance.

The young (and the young at heart) were shaking a leg to the wonderful music.

I found the energy level of the performers quite high as can be seen in the video. Found a peculiar type of tree opposite the boardwalk. Was it a creeper or was it some sort of parasite on the tree?

Earlier we had dinner at the Vaughan Cheese, run by Megan and Tyler. It was an experience in itself especially regarding the different forms of cheese.

Found a few birds along the bay like the Royal tern.

Trying to identify this bird

There were man made platforms specially erected for the Ospreys for their nesting season.

More on the Ospreys and its nesting habits in the next blog.

Earlier we had been to Annapolis and spent half a day there. The memorial that I saw at the city dock is the only memorial in the United States that commemorates the actual name and place of an enslaved African, Kunta Kinte. It reminded me of all that I read (about four decades ago) in the book "Roots" by Alex Haley.

Did some window shopping there.

Here were some recycled articles made from old cans in Madagascar, Africa, for sale.

Now to work on the Osprey video.

Never a dull moment

The grey Langur paid us a visit the other day. In fact there were two of them. How I came to know about it was by the distress call of the Koel. To add to this the crows were all excited and were concentrating on the mango tree.   I had a closer look at the tree. After carefully scanning through the gaps in the tree, I found this cute face looking back at me. 

Had enough time to grab my camera and take some quick shots.

The crows were getting really agitated (and frustrated) as they could not swoop down on them. The second line of attackers were waiting above for action:

Meanwhile our friends decided to change location and descended on our garden. One of them perched on the bamboo scaffold and relished our flat bean shoots. 

Later while checking the net, I found that Langurs are indeed known as “leaf eating monkeys” as they feed mostly on leaves.  Other than leaves they eat fruits, shoots, roots, seeds, flowers, grass.

While enjoying the shoots, I saw him eyeing the Dutchman’s pipe (or queen of the night) flowers at the other end of the garden. I presume he gave up the idea, probably guessing that that they were the ‘already bloomed ones’ (these flowers bloom once a year and that too in the night)

The front line attackers had a clear target now and resumed their attack.  

Our friends now moved on to the adjacent tree and found the flowers on this tree really delicious. (this is the same tree on which the bats come at dusk during this season)

I suppose they had their fill on that tree and moved away, as the concentration of the crows shifted away from our house.

With some greenery around the house, there is never a dull moment.

I did manage to take some video footing too and you can see it here: