Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Chincoteague Island and National Wildlife Refuge

This past weekend, hubby and I celebrated our twentieth anniversary again Costa Rica was the real 20th celebration. So, this was just an extra overnight trip thrown in closer to the actual day. Chincoteague was my choice, I love going there to see the birds and the ponies.


                                       Click on picture for a larger image
 

Semipalmated Plovers



The Dunlins have a patch of black on their bellies.




Black Bellied Plover and maybe a Dowitcher





Chincoteague NWR consist of 14,000 acres of beach, dunes, wetlands and marshes. The Chincoteague refuge was originally started to provide habitat for the migratory birds. More than 320 species of birds are known to occur on the refuge. The refuge has also been designated as an Important Bird Area and was at time one of Audubon's top ten birding hot spots. The refuge management plans have restored threatened species such as the Delmarva Fox squirrel, Bald Eagle and the Piping Plovers.

                                          Egret and a Little Blue Heron



The Tri-Colored Heron


We saw Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and the Cattle Egrets.




 Legend has it that the ponies are descendants of survivors of a Spanish galleon that sunk on its way to Mexico. The ponies live in a feral condition on the island and excess numbers are rounded up once a year in July and auction off by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Dept. The Chincoteague ponies were made famous by Marguerite Henry's children's novel Misty of Chincoteague. I know it was one of my favorite books. The real Misty was born in 1946 and her descendants still part of the herd.



It is cool to see the horses and ponies walking around the refuge


My favorite pony


                                           Chincoteague sunset



This is my entry for That's my world , thanks to the hosting group of That's my World.
Also my entry for this weeks Watery Wednesday thanks to 2sweetnsaxy for hosting this watery meme and my entry for Outdoor Wednesday thanks to Susan of A Sountern Daydreamer.
To see more entries click on my links. Also, thanks for stopping by to see my post.

59 comments:

Regina said...

Hello Eillen . So peaceful and pretty amazing around here.
Great captures.

Happy Anniversary and Mother's day belated.
xo

diane b said...

happy anniversary. You celebrated twice for 20 years ...does that mean I should celebrate 4 times for 41 years? I love the herons and egrits.

betty-NZ said...

What a fun post. I would love to see that part of the world! Thanks for sharing.

DeniseinVA said...

Great photos Eileen and congratulations on your 20th anniversary. I was in Chincoteague a couple of years ago but didn't get a good look at the horses like you did. A good excuse to go back and try again one of these days.

Martha Z said...

Now I wish we had made the side trip to Chincoteague when we vacationed in that area. Your shots are great.

Random Treasures said...

Great pictures from your part of the world. I liked the birds :-)

Anonymous said...

Whoa! Beautiful beautiful photos, especially the horses, and that header photo is awesome!

Carver said...

Happy Anniversary. What a beautiful place. You did such a great job taking us on the tour with photographs and a great narrative too.

Sylvia K said...

What a terrific post! And Happy 20th Anniversary, Eileen! I love your photos! As soon as I read "Chincoteague" it brought back memories of the book about Misty -- one of my all time favorites, too. Hope you have a great week!

Sylvia

rainfield61 said...

Happy anniversary. The birds must be as great as your hubby.
LOL.

Indrani said...

Best wishes on your anniversary! :)
Great shots of your outing. The orange sunset is mesmerizing.

Unknown said...

Happy anniversary to you and your hubby. this is an awesome place, such amazing wildlife. thanks for sharing.

Tania said...

Looks like a really wonderful place and so are your photos. I would love to be on that beach:-)

Rajesh said...

Wish you Happy Anniversary.
That is a beautiful place you have choose to celebrate among the birds.

Elaine said...

I very much enjoyed the tour of Chincoteague. It is a very beautiful place, and you have some lovely photos of it. I too loved the book about Misty when I was a child and it's very interesting to see photos of the island and the ponies.

SandyCarlson said...

So nice to see a place where these birds thrive. Thank you, Eileen!

NatureFootstep said...

yeah, that is a place to love. :)

The heron was new to me. And I enjoy the plovers. And the horses and.........

Ebie said...

I love nature and I love your presentation here. So many wildlife. Everything all in one place. Beautiful photos you have shared.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Looks like the perfect place for a bird lover.Belated Happy Anniversary.
Blessings,Ruth

B i r g i t t a said...

Water and wildlife - must be a paradise for a photographer :)

http://foto.rudenius.se/post/2010/05/11/WW-e28093-Wordless-Water.aspx

EG CameraGirl said...

Happy anniversary. It seems to me this would be a perfect place for a birder and nature lover to celebrate. :)

A Garden of Threads said...

My favorite is the sunset on the water. Lovely:)

Unknown said...

Happy 20th Anniversary.
This is a paradise for nature and bird lovers.

Photo Cache said...

Happy anniversary. I believe Costa Rica is the perfect place for nature lover like you. Enjoy.

www.ewok1993.wordpress.com

Noel Morata said...

aloha eileen,

what a beautiful water views and tour of costa rica, nice to walk up to something like this and see wild horses....thanks for sharing this today

my watery views are on my sari sari blog if you would like to see this.

Eden said...

Happy 20th Anniversary! And many many more to come.

Love all your images. It is a beautiful place.

Dan Huber said...

wonderful post and lovely photos.

Dan

Anonymous said...

Great post! I've always wanted to visit Chincoteaque. I'd like to go when the horses swim. My favorite picture is the white egret. The dark tree really makes the white egret pop!

Lindz said...

that just lovely place to spend your anniversary and to take pictrues of natures and birds, I'm sure you had a lot of fun

Kim @ Savvy Southern Style said...

In your profile you say you are not a good photographer. I think your photos are marvelous. I really enjoyed looking at them.

Anonymous said...

I want to go to Chincoteague! What great sightings you had. I've wanted to go since I was a kid & read Misty. Love your photos of the ponies. Thanks.

Laura said...

and Happy 20th!

Laura said...

This is a favorite place of mine too. My parents have had a condo down in OC, MD since I was about 13, and we still go down the shore every summer to gather with my Mom, Sister, Sister-in-Law and all 7 of our kids for 4th of July weekend (I live in NH, so it's a trek to get there...but so worth it!)

beautiful photos of a magical place!

Coffeeveggie addict. said...

happy anniversary!great sh0ts..

Unknown said...

Eileen,
Beautiful photos, so peaceful and relaxing. Happy anniversary!!!
Sandy

Jeanne said...

That's a place I want to visit. Thank you for sharing!

Ms. Bake-it said...

Happy 20th Anniversary! What a beautiful place! Misty of Chincoteague was one of my very favorite books! One day I hope to get to see Chincoteague Island. Great photos!

~ Tracy

Faythe said...

Eileen! I love them all! I must somehow figure out how to shrink myself to fit in your camera bag, as that will be the only way I would ever get to travel to such beautiful places! thanks for sharing! and happy anniversary! I still marvel that you can keep up with so many beautiful blogs. my amateur shots still have the mystery going, no correct answers last week ;)
Faythe @GMT

Al said...

Belated happy Mothers Day! It looks like beautiful place to sit and stay and watch the birds!

Lew said...

Happy Anniversary! And your travels have brought us some wonderful views of nature. The wildlife of the easern shore is marvelous.

My name is Riet said...

Happy anniversary. Your pictures of those different birds are beautiful as always. Great shots Have a great day

Johnny Nutcase said...

lots of great birds in this post! I've never been there but i hear lots of good things. I enjoyed the photos (makes me wanna go, definitely) . LOVE the ponies!!

Self Sagacity said...

I enjoyed all your photos, they are so natural with the animals and the landscape. It's nice to see- instead of buildings. :-)

Kirigalpoththa said...

Amazing place and Lovely photos. Looks like a birder's paradise.

Irene said...

Happy anniversary! Beautiful pictures, Eileen! Wish you a great day!
Irene

Carolyn Ford said...

I love visiting wildlife refuges, or preserves! And, this one must be amazing with the added bonus...horses! Your captures are beautiful, especially the Snowy Egret!

Gemma Wiseman said...

Such a wonderful place for wandering and enjoying a huge variety of fauna and water worlds! Stunning photos!

eden said...

Hi, Eileen!

Great shots! Wish i could visit a place like that. Happy Anniversary again.

Have a great day always.

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

What a great place to visit and what a variety of birds. The ponies would be great to see.

Elaine Yim said...

Happy Anniversary, Eileen! That's a wonderful place to visit.

Ladynred said...

These are beautiful pictures. Love the birds and horses. Happy Anniversary!
WW

jabblog said...

Happy Anniversary - what a lovely place to go to to celebrate it. You caught some really wonderful shots.

Chubskulit Rose said...

marvelous photos Eileen!

Raccoon State Park

Bettey said...

These are all just great. I like the reflection in the first one and the gorgeous oranges of the last one!

Jocelyn said...

Gorgeous pictures. Happy anniversary.

Jocelyn
http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com

Tink *~*~* said...

You are making me want to come and visit, to see all the pretty ponies! Happy Wednesday :)

Tink *~*~*

http://graceolsson.com/blog said...

Dear Eillen, all your shots are very very golod
And forgive me, but sometimes, I dont get to visit you and to comment, cause u visit me and dont write your link...
congrats for everything
http://graceolsson.com/blog/2010/05/you-are-the-sunshine-of-my-life/

CailinMarie said...

Happy Outdoor Wednesday- a day late! :-)
I am just getting around to visiting all the blogs.
lovely photos- I don't live terribly far from this area and I really need to make the drive out - I haven't ever been!
CailinMarie
http://www.cailinyates.blogspot.com

DeniseinVA said...

Lovely photos Eileen. They make me want to go back down there to see all those lovely sights. Happy Anniversary!

Happy Monday!

  Wishing everyone a great day and a ha ppy new week! "It's never too late - never too late to start over, never too late to be hap...