Pics are posting now....these are the highlights...there are many more. ;-)
http://public.fotki.com/bhouston/miscellaneous/nature_pics/20120512-eastern-shore/?view=roll
Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms!!
Barbara
Barbara Houston wrote:
We left early Thursday morning and spent the day in Chincoteague. It was a gorgeous day except for the winds blowing across the sound at the beach carrying sand that hit so hard it hurt. We had some decent birding including a newly nested Oystercatcher near the main road, Willetts and Plovers on the off road beach, Black Skimmers in Toms Cove, and the Black Necked Stilts on the causeway. We stayed there until dinner time and headed over to the Maryland side. We stopped at Ray's Shanty for dinner...OMG, was it good! My husband got the AYCE steamed shrimp and when he asked for a second helping, they bought out this huge silver mixing bowl full with this giant ladle and scooped them onto this plate. he said they were awesome...I tried one and agreed. We stayed in Md near the Assateague NWR and got up early and headed for the park. We found the wild ponies right away and spent time photographing them. We spent the rest of the day on the 13+ miles of offroad beach with more ponies and lots of fishermen. There were hardly any birds on the beach on the Md side. We headed back to VA mid-afternoon and went down to the beach to catch sunset. We were pleasantly surprised to find both yellow crowned and black crowned night herons on the way to the beach.
Up early Saturday morning and headed to the beach. Stopped at the McD's for coffee and sat looking for the gazillion rails we could hear from the parking lot. Saw a few as they moved around in the grass, but only managed one picture. They are not very photo friendly. We spent the rest of the morning on the beach, mostly the offroad end. There were many fisherman already there when we arrived. We drove slow along the upper side and were treated to many nesting birds including the piping plover, american oystercatchers, and black skimmers. We had a pair of adult bald eagles join us down the beach to watch the fisherman tending oysters on the sound. There were several groups of Whimbrels on the beach this morning and a few Willetts, but not much else due to the large number of vehicles. When we left, they had stopped traffic coming onto the beach. The ranger was telling us they had 24 on the beach already and the limit was 18. So the four trucks waiting to get on the beach were going to be awhile.
We witnessed the sitting change on the OC nest...that was neat to see and got to see the two eggs. We finally got pictures of a Delmarva Squirrel after ten years of trying! And the Stilts were amazing to see. It was an awesome trip and an amazing picture trip. I only have 1800 pictures to go through in the two plus days we were there. i will post them later this weekend.
Birds:
Tricolored Heron
Glossy Ibis
Snowy Egret
Black Necked Stilts
Green Heron
Black Skimmers
Willets
Cormorants
Forster's Tern (Juvie)
Common Terns
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Ruddy Turnstone
Dunlin
American Oystercatcher (Nesting)
Sanderlings
Little Blue Heron
Black Bellied Plover
Whimbrels
Bald Eagle
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Cattle Egret
Brown Pelicans
Brown Thrasher
Clapper Rail
Red Wing Blackbird
Short Billed Dowitcher
Least Terns (Nesting)
Black Skimmer (Nesting)
Yellow Crowned Night Heron
Black Crown Night Heron
Greater Yellowlegs
Great Blue Heron
Piping Plovers
Semipalmated Plovers
White Ibis - Oyster
Non-Birds:
Wild Ponies
Delmarva Grey Squirrel
Snapping Turtles
Dolphins
Sika Elk
Rabbits
Raccoon
Rockfish - caught by fisherman near us
Skate - caught by fisherman near us
Barbara Houston
New Kent, VA
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