Gunkholing in the Chesapeake

A Great Blue Heron led our sailboat downriver between banks of the lush green foliage of Back Creek on Elk River at the northern entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. As we rounded each bend, the solitary bird would be floating on the brown mirror of water. With wingtips and feet stirring brief circles, he would take off as if in slow motion, glide ahead, then bank sharply around the next bend to await us once more. After a few more turns in this game of grace, the heron suddenly wheeled up a narrow tributary, and the forest seemed to close forever behind him.