My family and I took our summer vacation trip to Chincoteague last
week. It was our first time (and probably last) going in August. It
was very crowded and hard to get pictures because of so many people. We
got an off road permit and went up to the far end of the beach to escape
them and that saved the days. It was nice up there because they only
allowed 18 vehicles at a time which gave us plenty of space. They had
the beach closed off about 1.5 miles up due to nesting birds. In
talking with them, they are planning on opening up the remainder of the
beach late in the month. We also went over to the Maryland side for one
day and there was even more people! The beach was more crowded and the
off road area was more populated. They only had about 4 miles of that
beach open due to the nesting birds.
We got up early Monday morning to do the wildlife loop in hopes of there
not being any people there...ha. More people that I have ever seen on
the loop. Walking, biking, running along the loop. We took our bikes
and started the loop. When we got to the area on the right side where
the wooded area began, there must have been 200 egrets and herons in the
canal. They were all in the water and trees in the area. They were
very vocal and playful. I got some nice pictures of them. That was the
only day they were there. We saw them on other days, but farther off in
the distance, but still in the large groups. Other than that, we didn't
see much on our morning walks.
I got some nice pictures along the canal on the road to the beach of a
green heron and several other birds. We also saw several bald eagles
and every day they were in the same tree. I talked to one of the
rangers and he said there were two nesting sites on the island. One is
to the right on the loop and we have watched that one for several years,
but the other is in a 'non-disclosed' location. It is hard to tell from
the angle whether that tree is a nesting site or not. I even tried
blowing it up to examine it closer and can not tell. We found it odd
that they were in this tree every day for a non-nesting tree.
One interesting note. I talked with the tour guide and she was telling
me that the Canada Goose 'scouts' had been seen there already. These
are usually a small flock of birds that come in early to scout things
out before the larger migration begins. Typically, these are seen in
September. They are there now and their markings are slightly different
than those that stay around all of the summer. This is used as a guage
by the locals for the type of winter they will have. With them being
there the second week of August, they are expecting a harsh winter. Get
out your snow boots and shovels....
The pictures of all the birds are at:
http://public.fotki.com/bhouston/travel/2008-august-vacatio/birds-of-chincoteague/
I have sorted them by bird and attempted to identify them all. They are
start to look alike afer a while...the is one that I don't know and if
you see any others, please let me know via email or by leaving a comment
under the picture. Thanks for your help!
I also got some great sunset shots and some of the ponies if you are
interested: http://public.fotki.com/bhouston/travel/2008-august-vacatio/
Barbara
