I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday
Please ignore all the capital letters in my post. It does not show up this way in my draft and I can not figure out how to correct the problem.
Please ignore all the capital letters in my post. It does not show up this way in my draft and I can not figure out how to correct the problem.
Hubby and I have our favorite spots along the Potomac River and the C&O Canal trail to walk. On this day we stopped in a couple different areas along the Potomac. One of our favorite trails is the river trail at the Great Falls National Park. The trail follows along the river and then cuts back up to the C&O canal trail to make a loop. My header shows a small section of the Potomac River from the river loop trail.
For birding the river trail is great, we can see all kinds of birds, there is a Great Blue Heron rookery and there is also a nesting colony of Double-crested Cormorants. Above I have the nest of some DC Cormorants, a Prothonotary Warbler, some pretty irises, a Great Egret and a Black Crowned Night Heron.
The river loop trail and the edges of the canal were great places to see some wildflowers.
The Prothonotary Warbler is one of the breeding birds that can be seen along the C&O Canal. These birds nest in cavities or use boxes that are along the water edge. The males have a bright yellow head, green back ,a gray rump and a yellow breast and belly. Not the greatest picture but I was happy to see the Prothonotary Warbler.
Besides the lovely wild irises and roses we saw different species of birds, turtles, cool looking lizards, I am guessing a black rat snake and a family of geese.
In the 19th and 20th century the C&O canal provided jobs and oportunities for people throughout the Potomac River Valley, from the tidal basin in Washington DC to Western Maryland. The canal trail is 184.5 miles long. Hubby and I have hiked various parts of this trail. The C&O Historical Park consists of 19,236 acres from Washington Dc to Cumberland, Maryland. It 22years to build the canal using 35,000 workers. Most of the workforce were immigrants from Ireland and Western Europe.
