Assateague Island: Part 3

     this is the last of our weekend adventure in Maryland, in the vicinity of Assateague Island. On the day we left, we rented a canoe and paddled through the salt marsh in Ayers Creek. We rented our canoe through Ayers Creek Adventure and paddled around for 1.5 hours. I added a few additional species for my "Big Year" list, but most importantly, Tim and I had quiet, gorgeous scenery all around us, and very few biting insects to speak of.
     The weekend was really a great way to kick off turning 30 and I look forward to my year of adventure ahead. I'm so thankful to have Tim by my side, able to enjoy the outdoors and exploring new places together. Here's to 30...

Common tern, perched on a buoy. It was easy paddling on the way out, of course should have noted the wind at our backs...

Exploring the salt marsh. It was full of little elevated plastic shelters, I never quite figured out who they were meant for. They were all unoccupied, so no clues to help us.

A rare moment, a sitting barn swallow! Barn and tree swallows zipped about, catching insects on the wing.

Laughing gull was not too pleased with our paddling.

Most other laughing gulls didn't really care that we were paddling around the marsh.

I really loved the laughing gulls who were just plopped down, without a care in the world. Kind of like this guy,

A great blue heron spotted us as we spotted him. But something big was lurking, higher, before we ended our paddle (that turned strenuous, as we had to paddle against wind on the return).

Two mature bald eagles circled right over us. They were awesome to see, and I always love seeing raptors, it was a welcome sight and a great note to end our weekend on!