Weekend Reflections

This past weekend at Chincoteague I saw many reflections in the water and various natural pools. One area was my favorite. It was a  spot were the trees and bushes were colorful and made a pretty reflection in the water.

These shots are my entries for Weekend Reflections to see more awesome reflections click on my link.

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Chincoteague Sunrise

These are a couple of sunrise photos from Chincoteague Island. Hubby and I were two of just a few people on the beach watching the sunrise. I thought this sunrise was definitely worth us getting up early. I always enjoy watching the birds on the beach and was able to catch a few here there flying over the ocean while the sun was rising.

I saw a few shorebirds and a beautiful reflection on the pool next to the road.

To see more skies click here Skywatch Friday and thanks to the hosting team of Skywatch Friday.

And thank you for stopping by to see my skies and birds.

Wordless Wednesday

This is my entry for Bird Photography weekly  click on link to see more great birds.

These shots are my entry for  Nature Notes and to see more visit Michelle's Rambling woods Thanks Michelle

To see more click here Wordless Wednesday

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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.

Food Source for the migrating shorebirds

Horseshoe crabs play an important role in the ecosystem, any harm to them will interfere with the feeding and resting of hundreds of thousands migrating shorebirds.
In late spring the horsecrabs arrive on the Delaware beaches to lay their eggs. They say thousands of horseshoe crabs arrive in the Delaware Bay between May and June.

 The beaches which are mainly sand and pebble mixture are perfect for incubating the eggs. I read that one female can spawn repeatedly over several nights and lay over 100,000 eggs.

 Some of these eggs are exposed to the air which causes the egg to dry out and prevent the egg from hatching.  The exposed eggs are now the rich food source for the migrating birds. Delaware plays host to the second largest population of migrating birds. And these migrating birds depend on the exposed eggs for their feeding.

The horseshoe population needs to be protected from overharvesting. A decline in the horseshoe population can also mean a decline in the shorebird population.

I visited the Delaware beach this past weekend. Hubby and I walked along turning over any horsecrab that seemed stuck upside down. It was too early for most of the migrating shorebirds we did see quite a few Ruddy Turnstones and probably hundreds of Laughing Gulls.

To see more birds and other critters visit the Friday Ark and you can also visit Michelle's Nature Notes

Thanks for stopping by my blog.