The Unexpected Breakfast
April 24, 2025 — Day 19
Pokomoke River State Park: Shad Landing, Snow Hill, Maryland
We’re pretty sure that you know we’re birders. But we’re not always very good birders. Susan’s parents would get up at 3AM, knock on her door to see if she wanted to come out looking for owl’s with them. (paul here, she didn’t.) Birds are easier to see in the early morning or late late afternoon. These are known as the crepuscular times. Yes, that will be on the test. And yes, we use that joke a lot, Paul started making the test after the last trip and it was too damn hard. Not the questions, but finding a free web site to host the test!
At our ages ones of us invariably needs to get up at some random time in the night. The night before, we both said, if either of us is up after 6AM — Such a time actually exists! — see if the other is awake. We’ll go birding! (susan here: we pinky swore and nodded off for a good night’s sleep.)
We both got up around 7 and fumbled through our morning necessities, bundled up and went down to the boat launch where we were assaulted by the sounds of the park staff mowing the lawn, at 7:15AM! Those poor souls trying to sleep in the campsite loop next to the visitors center. Birding is about seeing the birds but you use your ears to find the birds. It was an impossible to bird with a riding lawnmower making noise. We got on our phones to see what was nearby and Paul found a place and off we went!
Many of these small towns have fallen on hard times. That means long ago things were good. They built utility with beauty. So many of the buildings in Snow Hill are gorgeous in that way that evokes a different time, a slower time, a time where people knew their community.
Look at that arch above the windows! The ceiling “dome” on the next one, just glorious.
Out into farm country again.
These people are doing well. We see shiny silos next to grand homes but they’re next to collapsing silos next to abandoned homes. This isn’t unique to this community. We’ve seen it repeat all over the United States. Farming is hard. They’re one season away from disaster. So, think of the hardships the people who put food on your table endure the next time you buy groceries.
We made it to the next birding hotspot, except, the parking lot was grass, the trail was grass and well, it screamed ticks. We’ve already had 1 tick in the RV — it hitchhiked on Paul’s pant’s leg at our campsite — so we’re not going to go places that’ll expose us to more of them. That was a pass. But now what?
We scoured Google Maps and decided on the other Pokomoke State Park, Milburn Landing. It was nearby. It’s not the park for us, sites are too small and trees are too close to the road, we could never back in. It sure was a nice park if we could fit there!
We could hear the Great Crested Flycatcher, just like we heard it yesterday, but never found it.
At this point we’re past 1st breakfast (that’d be Paul’s normal time) and 2nd breakfast (that’d be Susan’s normal time). We have little cell phone service and figure we’d go to Pokemoke City because they should have more restaurants than Snow Hill. Yelp offers up a few things, most are… questionable. “Our Place” reviews are mixed from “Best place ever” to “My dog died after I ate the food.” We were hungry and nothing else was around. We went in and are immediately struck by the fact that we are the only people here. Uh oh.
But within a few minutes the place was packed and our server, Summer, was bopping around from table to table constantly making sure everybody was happy. The breakfast, at 10AM, was great and inexpensive. When we walked in Susan said, “This will be great or awful but it will be an adventure.” And what a great adventure it was! (susan here: I was wrong. It was not great or awful but it was adventure. I’d give the food a solid 5/10. Adventure is always a 10.)
On the way back we drove by this field and farm, it is so beautiful.
Susan has always loved the spring greens and Paul is starting to understand why.
Mid-afternoon we were in no shape to go biking, we both got up too early. Paul needs less sleep than Susan so he went out to play radio while she napped. He got to see this lovely not New England forest with the green understory. But curiously, his right knee was hurting. He had expected some bicep pain from his improper kayak form, but knee pain? How curious.
Radio was not cooperating, it was awful. Paul finished his first park, went down to road to the second, and saw he had a text from Susan.
When Paul got back to the RV Susan floated the idea of biking. Paul mentioned his knee pain and that put a kibosh on any biking, tomorrow for certain!
But before he left, Paul had started the slow cooker Balsamic Chicken. (Except he forgot to put the balsamic vinegar in!) We had planned on an early dinner and then going the Chicoteague to do birdwatching. But by the time the vinegar was added and cooked in the birds were long tucked in for their night’s slumber. So let’s find a closer place, Trutt’s Landing!
Just lovely.
A life bird, Lesser Yellowlegs! Like the Laughing Gull and the Franklin Gull that are nearly identical, the Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs are very similar, and difficult to distinguish. In the picture below, we’re pretty sure that the straight beak clues the viewer in that it’s a Lesser Yellowlegs.
Paul saw a black and white bird, with a red part on the front. He thought it was an Oyster Catcher, but Merlin thought it was infrequent, so he left that one unidentified. (Time machine here, next day, he saw Oystercatchers for real and edited his ebird log. We love getting the rare and infrequent birds, it helps with the citizen science.)
Off to the next spot, Scott’s Landing Susan spotted another cutie and another life bird! This time it was the Least Sandpiper. This little guy was almost invisible.
Life Birds: 2 (Least Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs)