Trees on Elk Neck Peninsula

     Elk Neck Peninsula in northeast Maryland is formed by the upper Chesapeake Bay on the west and Elk River to the east.  It is mostly covered with deciduous forests, but with some housing developments and a little farmland.  Route 272 runs from the town of Northeast south through Elk Neck State Forest on the northern half of the peninsula and Elk Neck State Park in the southern part.
     I took a road trip on Route 272 from just south of Northeast to almost the dead-end, southern tip of the peninsula.in the afternoon of January 5, 2016.  I wanted to see what kinds of trees dominated the woods of this Maryland peninsula.
     Going south on Route 272, the first dominant trees I saw were sweet gums and scrub pines.  The gums have bristly, brown balls on their twigs that grew and dispense tiny seeds that finches, sparrows and other types of small birds eat in winter.  The pines have two twisted needles in a bundle and cones that persist on the twigs for years.  The pines also add green to winter deciduous woods.       
     Driving deeper into the forest of large, deciduous trees, I noticed the shrub layer of the woods was dominated by mountain laurel that has green leaves through winter.  Those laurel shrubs, with rustically twisted limbs, bloom beautifully from late May into early June.  Their pink buds resemble icing bud decor on a cake.  But when the laurel buds open they are mostly white to pale pink. 
     The many American holly trees in these woods also added scattered green almost everywhere in them in winter.  And these hollies were the biggest reason I wanted to visit these woods in winter when I could see them without deciduous leaves interfering.  I had been in these woods several years ago, but needed a refresher course. 
     The hollies were in all sizes and ages.  Some of them had lovely, pyramidal shapes and all had thick, deep-green leaves with sharp bristles on their edges.  Some of them, mature females, also sported striking, red berries that added to the beauties of the mostly gray woods.  And at some point during winter or early spring, flocks of American robins, cedar waxwings and other species of berry-eating birds will consume some of the holly berries. 
     But the many large, deciduous trees of several kinds dominated this peninsular forest in Maryland.  Tulip trees were there in abundance, almost everywhere.  Chestnut oaks, red oaks and American beeches dominated the low slopes of the terrain.  Dead leaves that still clung to their twigs on red oaks and beeches were decorative in the winter woods by offering warm brown and beige colors, respectively, to the forests. 
     Sycamore and white oak trees were most common in low-lying woods where the ground is moister.  The sycamores were readily distinguishable by their mottled bark. 
     Seeing the Chesapeake Bay where Route 272 meanders near the steep slopes of that estuaries' shores is an added bonus, particularly in winter when deciduous leaves are down.  If one watches the bay long enough, gulls, tundra swans, bald eagles and other, wintering estuary birds can be spotted from the road and the foot path to Turkey Point, the tip of this wooded peninsula.
     The day I was on the peninsula, and without trying, I saw four white-tailed deer, the fresh works of pileated woodpeckers on dead wood and two large flocks of white-throated sparrows, all right along the road.  Of course, these woods have many more kinds of woodland critters through  the seasons.
     My trip on Route 272 in Elk Neck Peninsula was enjoyable to me.  And I was able to determine some of the more common trees in that unique forest.  But the American hollies were the neatest single species on the whole excursion.  Having that much green and red berries in a winter woodland is uplifting to the spirit.