Daily Archives: July 9, 2026

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 09, 2026 by Henry
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

With the exception of a few eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis), we didn’t see many birds on our walk on the Cascade Loop Trail in Patapsco Valley State Park today. As we neared the far extreme end of the loop we started to smell what we have to assume was a dead animal. It got stronger and stronger and then we were startled by this turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), fluttering up to a small branch from a streambed. Thankfully we could not see what the bird had been feeding on and once we passed that spot, we were up wind and could no longer smell it.

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Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 09, 2026 by Henry
Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

As mentioned in the previous post, we took a walk on the Cascade Loop Trail in Patapsco Valley State Park this afternoon. After passing the cascade, we continued up the stream for a good ways. We saw and I photographed a few bluebirds and heard a few other birds, but it wasn’t really the best time of the day for birds. We did see, and I was able to get a reasonable photo of this spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus) on a tree trunk. They are a fairly widespread species, found from southern Canada to Florida and west to Oklahoma and central Texas.

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Cascade Loop in Patapsco Valley

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 09, 2026 by Henry
Cascade Loop in Patapsco Valley State Park

Cascade Loop in Patapsco Valley State Park

We dropped Jeff and Dorothy at BWI early this afternoon and then drove to Patapsco Valley State Park and made our way to the trailhead for the Cascade Loop Trail. It wasn’t quite as hot as it’s been but in the woods along this creek it was very humid. The Cascade Loop Trail goes up a creek that empties into the Patapsco River. This photo is of the eponymous cascade. Not exactly Niagara Falls, but pretty.

Other than that, there were no real sites that stood out, although the valley was, in general very pretty. I did take a few more pictures of a butterfly and of a turkey vulture, but I’ve posted them separately. Because this is a loop trail, we returned by continuing around the loop, although its a little hard to figure out which trail is which.

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