Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge

I’ve posted already about the vultures and egrets at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and the sunset/sunrise at the Assateague Island National Seashore. This post is a collection of other aspects of the place that I photographed on our visit in May.

There were ducklings that suddenly appeared from behind a clump of grass with the momma and proceeded to bathe in the water. Some of the ripples in the picture above are actually more ducklings that have temporarily submerged! Hours later it occurred to me that it would have been an excellent time to try testing out the video function in my camera.

There is a new visitor center at the refuge. The skylights are on top of chimney like structures. They provide light to the inside but not direct sunlight. Good design.

Does everyone that goes to the beach take at least one bird picture like this one to the left?

We didn’t seen any of the famous Chincoteague ponies in the refuge but there were two mares with colts in the corral next to our inn that were available for adoption. These ponies did not seem as scruffy as I remembered from previous visits when we had seen them in the marsh.

The light house was being renovated but we walked around to see it through the trees. I managed to use the zoom to take a close up of the top with the cables attached to support the renovation work.

On the way back to the car from the lighthouse - trying to walk faster than the mosquitoes and midges - I managed to notice and photograph a frog beside the path. It seems like 9:00 AM was the wake up time for the insects and nothing deterred them!

Goslings and Ducklings

When I went to Charleston, South Carolina at the end of April, the goslings and ducklings seemed to be everywhere. The ones I could observe easily were using the waterway through the resort as their base. The Canadian geese were quite plentiful and there were multiple broods - each with two attendants. The goslings were kept together and loud honking from the adults could be heard if anything got too close.

The Mallard ducks were not as good parents. When we first saw the brood, there were 5 ducklings. The next time there were only 4…and then right before we left there were only 3 ducklings. The adults seemed not as attentive to the young. The mother actually flew up onto a retaining wall and left her ducklings milling around in the water trying to figure out how to follow her. And there were turtles in the water. We didn’t see the demise of either of the missing ducklings but the turtles are likely suspects.

Now I wish I would have had my new camera in South Carolina. The picture below of a gosling in Maryland was taken last week with the new camera.