blackwater national wildlife refuge

Robsy1965

I love BNWR! There, I said it. If you love expansive moody vistas and birds, this is the place for you! It's only $3 to drive through the wildlife loop and there is always something exciting to see! On my last visit I saw about 30 Bald Eagles (quite a few nests in the refuge) and oddly enough saw a White Pelican! The Visitor's Center has recently been remodeled and enlarged and is really nice. There are walking trails too! It doesn't matter what time of the year you are at the Refuge, there is always something to see. The sunsets are spectacular and the guided tours throughout the year are great. You can bike the wildlife loop, run, walk, follow the tour in your vehicle. Its a wonderful place to get away from the regular "touristy" things to do! While you're there you're so close to a fun restaurant called Old Salty's! Fun day for sure!

Cricket2825

It is a great place to go and view eagles in their natural habitat. They also have a nice resource center too.

Paula1752

With an eagle festival in the springtime, an eagle cam and and an osprey cam, getting an in depth education about birds of prey is easy and enjoyable. Very interesting place.

KathyG186

Stop at the Visitors Center first- they have a map for the Wildlife Drive, which is about 4-5 miles long. They showed us on the map where there had been sightings earlier that morning, along with the locations of a couple of nests. The Visitors Center is nice and bright with a lot of good exhibits and displays. There is also a movie, which is about 24 minutes long, about the Wildlife Refuge. There is a butterfly garden outside. We saw 36 eagles, with at least half of them out on the ice, some feeding on whatever thay had caught for breakfast. Also saw loads of Canada and Snow geese, a kingfisher and blue herons. Did not see a delmarva fox squirrel or Sica deer- maybe next time!

wayne417

I have taken a number of motor coach groups to Black Water National Wildlife Refuge in Dorchester County, Maryland (Maryland's Eastern Shore), and have constantly been amazed at the natural beauty contained therein. If you add the acreage of Black Water to the three State management Wildlife areas surrounding it, you have close to 80,000 acres of spectacular beauty and preservation. The visitors Center is lovely and when we take coaches through the Refuge, we have a Ranger onboard to narrate the visit. The Refuge is loaded with Bald Eagles and Osprey, and you can visit their webcams that are focused on various nests. A great place to visit, and it is free if you have your National Parks Pass...if you don't the cost is very little.

Daveskis

Where else in MD can you see multiple bald eagles, endangered fox squirrels Amd dozens of different birds?

538AnnaM

You can drive, bike or walk through this gorgeous reserve and see numerous varieties of birds year-round

chavaz2014

Amazing place. We took the Sunday morning bird walk. We were thrilled to see so many eagles and many other birds as well.

bless456789

Relatively warm day in December. Lovely, quiet place. We saw a bald eagle in the free telescopes. Many herons wading in the waters. A billion geese. You can walk some and drive some.

NickInChina1

Today our family visited the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and had a great time even though the weather was really bad - rainy, cold, and overcast.The park is well organized with good signage and friendly visitors' center staff who were helpful about both the park as well as the surrounding area - i.e. Hooper IslandWe saw tons of birds, took great photos and overall had a great time.Following the park we took a drive to the near by Hooper Island - the only word of caution - do not expect to find food on the island due to the timing (i.e. winter season)

mdona267

This is a very special refuge. We have seen several Great Blue Herons here and Bald Eagles. It is a short drive through the refuge but lots of action. Winter is a great time to go as the foliage does not obstruct the views. Definitely worth it!

Z808KKjohnk

We stopped in to visit the refuge on our way to Ocean City. They had a great program with decoy carvers, artists and other artisans exhibiting. This was a once a year event. The volunteers were very helpful and informative. We were able to see bald eagles as well as herons and egrets along the tour ride. This is a must see.

vendetta_vixxen

i drove out to get some wildlife pictures while my daughter was voluteering at the local animal shelter although i didnt get any of the resident bald eagles i get capture some blue herons and it was a nice scenic drive

xia0gangl

Blackwater national wildlife drive is a very nice drive. Instead of Black Fridaying, this year we decided try Black Water. Look what we got!

apdemas

I came here originally to finish off seeing the Maryland National Parks as the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument is partially based here. I didn't really know what to expect, but wow was I pleasantly surprised! The visitor center is great, clearly recently remodeled. It has really good information on the management techniques used there and why, and brilliant displays of the birds that frequent the Refuge. They even had several raptor cams set up so you could watch the nesting bald eagles. The volunteers working there were super nice and helpful too.The big thing to do there is the Wildlife Drive, where you get to drive between some of the management wetlands and the saltwater marsh to the south. There are so many birds there and the drive is really well set up so you can pull off and watch them.Overall just a really good place to see nature and get outdoors!