Chincoteague Island Trip report, August 21 and 22, 2009
It was nice to get away and spend two days at Chincoteague Island, Va. The majority of our time was spent at the Chincoteague National Wildlife refuge which is mostly known for the wild ponies. The weatherman tried to scare us with the threat of Hurricane Bill but, the weather turned out beautiful.
We also saw hundreds of Black Skimmers, at times they seem to put on a show for us. They would all fly up together and circle the area and then just land back down. They were especially fun to watch while they were skimming over the water with the beaks just touching the water.
My favorites of the herons were sighted.... the Green Heron and the Little Blue Heron and we also saw the Tri-colored Heron. I have tried on numerous birding outings this summer to see a Little Blue Heron and I was finally pleased to see so many of them at Chincoteague. They are beautiful birds.
There were also some Glossy Ibis mixed in with Semipalmated Plovers, Short Billed Dowitchers, Yellowlegs and Willets. I have not confirmed but I might have also seen some juvenile White Ibis.
Semipalmated Plover and Sanderlings were everywhere on the beach.
Often we would watch groups of Brown Pelicans flying parallel to shore. During the two days I think we saw 25-30 Brown pelicans at different times.
On our second day, there was one time the lifeguards were saying there was a thunderstorm headed our way and the safest place to be would be our cars. It turned dark and threatening but not a drop of rain and luckily no thunder and lightning.
It was nice to get away and spend two days at Chincoteague Island, Va. The majority of our time was spent at the Chincoteague National Wildlife refuge which is mostly known for the wild ponies. The weatherman tried to scare us with the threat of Hurricane Bill but, the weather turned out beautiful.
We also saw hundreds of Black Skimmers, at times they seem to put on a show for us. They would all fly up together and circle the area and then just land back down. They were especially fun to watch while they were skimming over the water with the beaks just touching the water.
My favorites of the herons were sighted.... the Green Heron and the Little Blue Heron and we also saw the Tri-colored Heron. I have tried on numerous birding outings this summer to see a Little Blue Heron and I was finally pleased to see so many of them at Chincoteague. They are beautiful birds.
There were also some Glossy Ibis mixed in with Semipalmated Plovers, Short Billed Dowitchers, Yellowlegs and Willets. I have not confirmed but I might have also seen some juvenile White Ibis.
Semipalmated Plover and Sanderlings were everywhere on the beach.
Often we would watch groups of Brown Pelicans flying parallel to shore. During the two days I think we saw 25-30 Brown pelicans at different times.
On our second day, there was one time the lifeguards were saying there was a thunderstorm headed our way and the safest place to be would be our cars. It turned dark and threatening but not a drop of rain and luckily no thunder and lightning.
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