Day 27 Friday April 29, 2016, At Chincoteague Island VA

Assateague Channel where the horses swim across in July
with the ponies that are sold at Auction. The local
Fire Department maintains all services with that Auction $.

Day 27 Friday April 29, 2016, At Chincoteague Island VA

Yes , we are camping at the Island made famous partly by the book “MIsty of Chincoteague”.  Although the ponies are popular , the wildlife is abundant and the birding was excellent as we continue to wait for the warblers to arrive. I think they are two weeks away and should just make that window when we stay at Cape May  (NJ) in two weeks..

Speaking of "Misty" we should report that it has been two "misty" days in a row here.

Today was good birding and if you look out our front door (we have two doors of course!), you can see the Island about 1,000 yards across the marsh. The Assateague Lighthouse is in full view as well. A good view helps make for pretty fine camping, I’d say. (I’ll photograph that tomorrow)

The lighthouse is an old one for sure. 

A view on a cloudy day, of the Assateague Lighthouse.

The entry just next to our campground is across a short causeway. It is the Bay that the ponies swim across
in July for the Auction.

So, that is where we started today with hopes for some good shorebird counts. The Island is both a NWR AND a National Park called Assateague National Seashore .It is a collaboration between the two agencies. The National Park Service holds 448 acres in the NWR, and cooperates with parking, facilities and maintenance. One of the features (and we will see more of this) is the completely “green” facilities  in each of the buildings including “dry toilets” that save about 40,000 gallons of water per year. Good stuff!

The Beach Visitor Center has been moved three times
due to erosion and wind.

The crews have been working since February to restore the
 road to the Search and Rescue station (defunct)  from
the Hurricane Juaquin that covered the road and moved
the dunes over the old road.

The Main Visitor Center is the Admonistration Building
 as well as an Educational center.

A stop at both centers for visitors is advised and we did. It helps to get information that is useful for a person’s style of visit. For instance we talked with the manager (who has been there 27 years) about bird movement and possibilities. She was a wealth of information about the season, climate change (they see the effect), bird count changes, and what is there at present and what will still come.

There are many trails and we did take one to the Lighthouse at least for photos. Other than that there are trails with one large one that is used only for non-licensed vehicles until 3:00 PM when autos can travel that Loop. We did that and were able to add to the day’s count with 9 new species. The loop surrounded a very large pool (combination of water and reeds and marsh) where hundreds of birds were feeding on at the shallow water found there.  There are besides the ubiquitous Egrets, many Dunlin, Sanderling, Skimmers, Sandpipers, Godwits, Ibis,  a few Plovers, Heron and a Yellow Billed cuckoo for extra measure. 44 birds in all and a count that is now at 125 species. Watching hundreds of bird fly in “formation” and quickly change direction and stay in “formation” is one of natures great shows.

Short Billed Dowitchers and a Red Knot in the center

Mostly Snowy Egrets that were plentiful.

A close up of a Forster's Tern

The results of the Hurricane force winds were clearly seen in
many parts of the Refuge.

A Fish Crow is separated from a Common Crows by the voice
which is a "geer" call. 

A group of Marbled Godwits resting up for the rest of the
trip "up north"

In order to clean up the logs and debris , some scraps are left
to rot naturally in the soil.

Before the gates opened at 3:00PM for autos into the Loop, we did a short trip into Chincoteague for a “tourist” time in some stores and of course the “ISLAND CREAMERY”, for one or two of their fabulous 50 flavors of homemade ice cream. Jim was a glutton and had two flavors under his hot fudge (Coffee and Cherry Jubilee) while Ruth settled for a cone of Mint Chocolate. It took Jim a while to down that huge, two dip sundae. These were very large scoops.

We returned to the Loop and finished the day with more birds. No Eagles although there is one on the Island as well as no Osprey  today, either.

Tomorrow we will take the NWR’s “Bus Trek”  that will get to the “hinterland” on the long service road  that leads into the “horse and pony” country. More birds are likely. Enjoy the photos  posted today.