74: Poplar Thicket

 

M I L L S B O R O,  D E

Four days ago, atop a kayak in the Quillen Point marsh of Indian River Bay, I watched the sun go down over Long Neck, Delaware.  It was a lovely sunset on a day with 0% chance of rain.   

 

Allison interprets weather forecasts more optimistically than me.  To her, a 70% chance of rain is not 100%, so there’s reason to be hopeful and give something a try.  I’m a numbers guy and naturally more pessimistic, so 70% is probabilistically not worth the try.  But today, I’m Team Allison.  Despite a 70% chance of rain, I want to give it a try. 

 

We’re heading to Long Neck to give a try at the Marian Okie Preserve. Known to locals as “Poplar Thicket” and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the property was donated by The Nature Conservancy to Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources in 2007.  Okie is now a 118-acre bird sanctuary with an impeccably maintained network of grass trails through wetlands and forest, and leading to a quarter-mile of undisturbed bayshore.  And rain or shine, visitors can expect to see great blue herons, ospreys, horseshoe crabs, Monarch butterflies, and endangered diamondback terrapins.  

 

For about 70% of the drive to Okie, it’s been raining – just as forecast.  But when we park, Allison’s optimism takes over giving us a long enough window of dryness for a quick visit.  Upon setting out along the straightest, most direct trail to the bayshore we notice we’re not alone.  Hundreds of mosquitos and biting flies attack.  We tap our optimism again though and continue onward – walking swiftly and swatting rhythmically.  When we reach the beach, the mosquitoes relent. 

 

Within minutes, I spot the Quillen Point.  It’s a mere two miles across the bay by kayak to Quillen, but a 45 minute drive by car.  Both Quillen and Okie are critically important refuges in this area of heavy development.  Indian River Bay is rimmed by many beautiful residences with amazing views, so places like Quillen and Okie are pushbacks – havens for wildlife and reminders of what this bay once was.

 

Though our time here is brief (and mostly dry), we’re here long enough and with open mind to get a worthy taste Okie’s essence.  We snap several bayshore photos, spot snowy egrets, osprey, terns, and crabs, then head back through the mosquito gauntlet to our car to begin a rainy three-hour ride home. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT OKIE PRESERVE HERE.