Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
We went to the C&O Canal today, parking at Violet’s Lock, and walked down stream past Blockhouse Point. We saw this great blue heron (Ardea herodias) on our way down and again on our way back. We sat on the wall next to the towpath near Blockhouse Point and chatted with a man cycling from Maryland back to his home in Ohio. His plans were to stop for a few days for a jazz festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He shared some pawpaws that he had collected. We had looked for them but hadn’t found any that were not still on the tree and not yet ripe. He also asked us if we’d ever tasted tamarind. I had but let him give us a few pods, which we broke open and ate. A bit further on I also got a few photos of a pair of black vultures (Coragyps atratus).