Woodbridge, Virginia

From the Neabsco Creek Boardwalk, we’re looking southeast 1.3 miles to the railroad trestle at the creek’s mouth with the Potomac River. The Maryland shoreline is barely visible above the bridge, an additional 3.5 miles beyond. That would be the southwest tip of the Indian Head Peninsula. The newly opened $4 million 3/4-mile boardwalk is a pedestrian delight, open dawn until an hour after dark. We saw a couple of egrets but only at a distance, a few redwing blackbirds, and we heard more than we saw numerous tiny chattering birds. Will have to return at a more opportune hour. The only bird I caught on camera was almost as big as a crow but I don’t know what it was yet. [Nick must be right: a crow.] I was of course pleased to catch the southbound CSX freight train through my big lens.

The red marker (top, middle) is where we parked and entered the Neabsco Boardwalk on foot. My orange ink highlights the boardwalk winding 3/4 of a mile across the wetland. The orange line at lower right is the aforementioned railroad trestle, to the right of which is the Potomac River. The as yet unrenamed Jefferson Davis Highway shown on the left is the old main road south to Key West (1,300 miles) or north to Montreal (650 miles).