September 16, 2014 ~ Pocomoke, MD to Chincoteague, VA
I got to the island at 0800 and first went to the Best Western situated adjacent to a vast salt marsh just outside of the refuge proper. I have a lot of points (oh, but not quite enough for THIS particular motel. Well, OK then....I fulfilled the requirements for the summer promotion, but oh dear, it takes 2-3 weeks before the voucher is sent and so you aren't eligible for a few more days... I shrugged and just reserved a room anyway for the night. The typical deal at the desk...lots of serious computer perusal; then a call for help from a supervisor who also looked intently at the computer and mumbled stuff to the younger staff member, and then went out of sight into a back office, eventually emerging to tell me so sad, too bad....Why am I not surprised I said. I think they were chagrined and did offer to let me have a room right away, at 0800 in the morning. However, I had a refuge to visit....
Esther, I thought of you several times today...the ponies and all. I hiked a 2+ mile trail, saw a cut-off to "Pony Overlook" and hiked another mile just to take horrible photos of too-far-away ponies....all for you.
Chincoteague is a pretty place. DHC and I went here last year also in September after we left The Gathering in Virginia Beach where we remembered our dear sister Maria with her friends from around the country.
It was the nearly the same kind of day today but with not quite the bird variety. I went to the little beach where we saw so many, and there were some, but no godwits, turnstones or ospreys. Nice terns though and Black Skimmers.
It was warm, and folks were settled in beach chairs...very pleasant without the summer crowds.
The 3-mile walk in the woods was a paved trail - wheelchair accessible - and, again, there were birds in the canopy when I was patient and waited for the flicks of movement...Brown-headed Nuthatches, a nice view of a Northern Parula...
The Loblolly pines are very tall with long 7-inch needles in groups of three making a nice ground cover. In other places, the coastal flora is dense and dark and looks impenetrable. I saw a Delmarva fox squirrel, an endangered species, and a very tame little deer, unperturbed by my presence.
It is interesting that dogs are increasingly prohibited on the refuges, and here on Chincoteague, pets are not even permitted in one's vehicle.
At 3 p.m., the Wildlife Tour Loop route is open until dusk. I drove it twice always hoping for a Seaside Sparrow. I even walked the one-mile Marsh Trail near sunset since someone eBirded a SS there recently. Did I see one? Oh well.....still on a quest here...
There WERE hundred of egrets and many Glossy Ibises, and I saw both an immature pure white and a mature dark blue Little Blue Heron. The immature white form looks very much like a Snowy Egret but I've learned the difference and now look for it.
A day of beaches, woods with a piney smell in the sunshine, birds, hiking and then eating Maryland crab cakes which were delicious.
It was nearly dark when I got to the motel so I didn't sit on my wee patio as I had planned but soaked in the tub and finished reading Life Is a Wheel by Bruce Weber (on loan from Bob), about a New York Times writer who bicycled across America for the second time at age 57. (He did his first trip when he was 40.) I could definitely relate to much of his inner dialogue and the psychology of a long solo trip, plus I knew almost all of the general routes and cities he passed through. I guess that says something about my gypsy side.
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| Misty the XIIth or XXth - Chincoteague NWR - VA |
Esther, I thought of you several times today...the ponies and all. I hiked a 2+ mile trail, saw a cut-off to "Pony Overlook" and hiked another mile just to take horrible photos of too-far-away ponies....all for you.
Chincoteague is a pretty place. DHC and I went here last year also in September after we left The Gathering in Virginia Beach where we remembered our dear sister Maria with her friends from around the country.
It was the nearly the same kind of day today but with not quite the bird variety. I went to the little beach where we saw so many, and there were some, but no godwits, turnstones or ospreys. Nice terns though and Black Skimmers.
 |
| Caspian and Royal Terns - Chincoteague NWR - VA |
The 3-mile walk in the woods was a paved trail - wheelchair accessible - and, again, there were birds in the canopy when I was patient and waited for the flicks of movement...Brown-headed Nuthatches, a nice view of a Northern Parula...
The Loblolly pines are very tall with long 7-inch needles in groups of three making a nice ground cover. In other places, the coastal flora is dense and dark and looks impenetrable. I saw a Delmarva fox squirrel, an endangered species, and a very tame little deer, unperturbed by my presence.
It is interesting that dogs are increasingly prohibited on the refuges, and here on Chincoteague, pets are not even permitted in one's vehicle.
At 3 p.m., the Wildlife Tour Loop route is open until dusk. I drove it twice always hoping for a Seaside Sparrow. I even walked the one-mile Marsh Trail near sunset since someone eBirded a SS there recently. Did I see one? Oh well.....still on a quest here...
There WERE hundred of egrets and many Glossy Ibises, and I saw both an immature pure white and a mature dark blue Little Blue Heron. The immature white form looks very much like a Snowy Egret but I've learned the difference and now look for it.
A day of beaches, woods with a piney smell in the sunshine, birds, hiking and then eating Maryland crab cakes which were delicious.
 |
| Salt Marsh on Assateague Island - Chincoteague NWR - VA |
It was nearly dark when I got to the motel so I didn't sit on my wee patio as I had planned but soaked in the tub and finished reading Life Is a Wheel by Bruce Weber (on loan from Bob), about a New York Times writer who bicycled across America for the second time at age 57. (He did his first trip when he was 40.) I could definitely relate to much of his inner dialogue and the psychology of a long solo trip, plus I knew almost all of the general routes and cities he passed through. I guess that says something about my gypsy side.
Oh, Barbara - thank you for the picture of one of the "Misty's". I knew you were close and wondered if you would stop. Chicoteague is still on my bucket list. Maybe next summer.
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