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Join retired Chesapeake Bay Foundation Senior Naturalist John Page Williams every Wednesday for inside accounts of our Bay’s creatures and seasonal events. Follow the Bay through the seasons. Williams' fascinating natural history will enable those who love the Chesapeake to tune in to life around the Bay. The fishing enthusiast will discover things that help him or her catch more bluefish or white perch; the bird watcher and the hiker will learn when to look for the appearance of the ospreys in the spring and the geese in the fall. The cruising sailor drinking morning coffee while anchored in a quiet cove will learn why a great blue heron stalks the shallows in summer; the canoeist will discover when to look for wild marsh flowers. ABOUT JOHN PAGE WILLIAMS Raised in Richmond, John Page Williams retired in 2019 from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation after a long career working as a naturalist and field educator on streams, creeks, rivers, and the open Bay throughout the Chesapeake watershed in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. As he has also done for many years, he continues to review powerboats and write on fishing and environmental issues for Boating Magazine, Chesapeake Bay Magazine, and Virginia Wildlife Magazine. These readings are from John Page Williams, Jr.'s book, Chesapeake Almanac: Following the Bay through the Seasons. The publication is available in print at Amazon.com. Content copyright © John Page Williams, Jr. All rights reserved. Find out more about the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at www.cbf.org.

Podcast episodes

Check latest episodes from Chesapeake Almanac podcast

March: Early Spring Fish

2022/03/23

Welcome to our last episode of "Chesapeake Almanac." Cold weather is losing its grip on the Chesapeake, but though the water is still cold, the earliest born Norfolk spot are making their way north, just as much a benchmark of spring as the first crocuses on land. It's March madness, which for finfish means renewed traffic and spawning on the Bay and in rivers and creeks. On this episode, John Page Williams highlights the fish you'll find making an appearance in the Chesapeake in March. From Norfolk spot, winter flounder, Labrador herring, and river herring to yellow perch spawning in small creeks on balmy days, white suckers, largemouth bass, chain pickerel, and the first of the blueback herring. March is a busy time in our waters.

March: River Geography

2022/03/16

There is no other estuary in the world with a network of rivers like the one that feeds Chesapeake Bay. Every square inch in the drainage basins of those rivers is connected directly to the Bay. The Chesapeake itself is a river, after all. It is the drowned valley of the Susquehanna, a 200-mile-long tidal river mouth. In this episode, John Page Williams provides a geography lesson of the Chesapeake's life blood--its rivers.

March: Barnacles and Springtime

2022/03/09

In March, you can see the tiny, wedge-shaped larvae of barnacles catching early spring plankton. They scull about with their six legs, not yet ready to settle and grow into the barnacles we know. Most Bay lovers have at least one good barnacle story. Invariably these tales involved hands cut by sharp shells, or speed- and fuel-robbing crust on boat bottoms. But these crustaceans do more than create havoc for humans. They create little ecosystems on dock and pier pilings and fallen trees. In this episode, John Page opens up the world of yet another small Bay creature that has a story that surpasses its tiny size.

March: Copepods - Keystones of Spring

2022/03/02

Copepods. They are among the most abundant multicellular animals on earth and generally regarded as the most numerous in the Chesapeake, with numbers routinely as high as 30,000 per cubic meter of water in some areas. They are a keystone food source for virtually every fish species in the Bay. But it takes a 3X hand lens to bring them clearly into view. In fact, they fly so far under the radar that their species don't even qualify for common names. Only the Latin Eurytemora affinis and Acartia tonsa are used to identify them. In this episode, John Page Williams brings into focus one of the tiny--but important--mysteries of the Chesapeake.

February: Cold Water Brings a Quiet Season

2022/02/24

While February is the shortest month of the year, to many anglers it can seem like the longest. What happens to the Bay's species when the cold water of winter sets in? In this episode, John Page takes us beneath the surface of February's Bay--who hibernates; who settles into deep, warmer waters; who heads out to sea.

February: Sea Ducks Relish Winter on the Chesapeake

2022/02/16

Winter brings several diving ducks from Canada and Alaska that thrive on the open Chesapeake. In this episode, John Page introduces us to four sea duck species attracted to the Bay's historically rich bottom food stores found in oyster beds.

February: Otters Are Busy Now

2022/02/11

The Chesapeake has a healthy population of otters. In fact, every river system has at least one family. Otters are perhaps the wildest, most elusive mammals on the Chesapeake. They certainly see more of us than we do of them. However, if you are lucky enough to spot one, watching an otter play on the ice if February is sure to be one of the highlights of your year! In this episode, John Page introduces us to these playful Chesapeake residents and dives into what makes these semi-aquatic mammals so otterly unique.

February: Eagles Nesting

2022/02/03

Did you know it's likely that most members of every population of bald eagles on the East Coast visit the Chesapeake at some point in their lives? In this episode, John Page Williams shares information about bald eagles in the Bay, where you can them, and tips for identifying them, even if they are immature or too far away to distinguish their telltale white head.

December: Miocene Fossils

2021/12/22

Fossils put Bay time into perspective. Features of today's region were already recognizable when the Atlantic Ocean flooded the mouth of the Susquehanna River system 15,000 years ago. In this episode, John Page takes us back to the Bay during the Miocene Epoch and points out spots where fossils from that time can still be found.

December: Muskrats and Winter Marshes

2021/12/15

In this episode, John Page introduces us to the Chesapeake's most abundant aquatic mammal and one of the few that are active in winter--muskrats. Curious how a warm-blooded mammal can live in an aquatic habitat in the dead of a Chesapeake winter? Learn that and more.

December: Swan Time

2021/12/08

When the cold fronts push into the Chesapeake region you can expect to see (and hear) large flocks of tundra swans sweeping in after them. These are creatures of habit, or some may say tradition, flying more than 1,000 miles to the same wintering grounds each year. In this episode, John Page shares some of the reasons these birds select the Chesapeake, as well as what changing conditions in the Bay may mean for their future.

December: The "Other" Mollusks

2021/12/01

We all know the iconic Chesapeake oyster. But studying less well known members of the Bay community is often a good window into understanding it better. Softshell clams, hard clams, brackish-water clams, hooked mussels, ribbed mussels, and the stout razor clam each have their own niche and specialty. In this episode, John Page shares the stories of the "other" Chesapeake mollusks--including one that can dig faster than you can!