Shore It's a Bird

After volunteering for a beach cleanup at Assateague Island over the weekend, we went to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge to experiment with our recent camera purchases.

These images were taken with the new camera, a Nikon CoolPix P510.

The Snowy Egret is among the most elegant of the herons. Its immaculate white plumage is accented with black legs and brilliant yellow feet. Snowy Egrets wade in shallow water to spear fish and other small aquatic animals. Sometimes they adopt a sit-and-wait technique to capture their food, but usually are very much animated, running back and forth through the water chasing their prey.

 

The Lesser Yellowlegs is a slender, long-legged shorebird that readily shows off the brightly colored legs that give it its name. It is an active feeder, often running through the shallow water to chase its prey.

 

Dowitchers are termed short-billed and long-billed and are most often seen during migration. I'm not sure if this one was short or long-billed.

The Willet one of the most conspicuous large shorebirds.  In summer, Willets are mottled gray, brown, and black; in winter they are a more consistent plain gray. This large group was stationary the whole time we observed them.



Oystercatchers appeared in a large group and skimmed the water looking for a meal, preferably oysters. The American Oystercatcher is a flashy bird. Its size, striking plumage, and large red bill make it particularly recognizable, especially compared to the subtle, well-camouflaged plumages of most shorebirds.

 

We saw several more species during our visit — enough for another post.

CNWR Sunday Afternoon

A couple of weeks ago,  we spent a few hours bike riding at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (CNWR).

The ocean surf was very rough that afternoon.

These ducks found calmer waters.

A Great Blue Heron was enjoying the afternoon too.

Looks Like

Ever notice that things in nature can often resemble something else?

Like this tree branch, for example.

Looks like a shore bird at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge

Maybe a Great Blue Heron . . .

or a Great Egret . . .

What do you think?

Birds of a Feather are Birds for Shore

No day trip to Chincoteague NWR would be complete without including some photos of the resident and migratory bird life. Today’s day trip was sparse in terms of seeing lots of shorebirds. But there were a few, like this Great Egret, who when not fishing for lunch was very obliging for poses.

There were also a couple of Snowy Egrets…

And several others – like Yellowlegs (easy to spot – guess why), Sanderlings, Dowitchers (fished in groups), and a lone female Mallard.

Loners included a Red-Winged Blackbird and little Great Blue Heron.

And, no beach visit would be complete without some SHELLS.

Taking Refuge

Day tripping is one of the things that Grenville and I do best , aside from working around the F&P and in the gardens. Today’s adventure was to a well known VA tourist spot, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge before it gets inundated by summer tourists and  the “mozzies” which have already arrived according to fellow blogger, Jim, who posts regularly about CNWR.

As part of his making time for himself plans, Grenville wanted to get info on fishing there and also check out some beach sites. That was a good enough reason to go despite overcast skies and chilly temps – neither of which kept some folks from surf fishing and some hardier beachgoers from sitting on the beach – but no one went in the water…BRRRR. 

And, it may well be true that kids make their own fun ANYWHERE. This little red head was having a great time running barefoot in the sand, while his family huddled together on the beach.

Sometimes the simplest things are the MOST fun, like bare footing or flying a kite. Have some fun this summer - You might like it!