Chincoteague Egrets

This is the last post about our weekend trip to Chincoteague back in November. I enjoyed photographing the egrets too much to not include a post about them. They were not as plentiful as the Great Blue Herons or cormorants. The yellow bill and dark legs distinguish the birds as Great Egrets.

It was a very cold day but evidently the fishing was still good. Most of the birds were standing in water - or at the edge of the water - actively looking for their next meal.

Look at those long toes! The angle of the light shows how fluffed the birds feathers are against the cold.

This one has fluffed feathers too - and that primordial looking kink in the neck that egrets and herons share.

Most of the bits they caught were quite small.

This scene with the mallard and two egrets speaks of communication between species - but what exactly are they communicating?

Right after the encounter one of the egrets flew off into the sunset. And that was the end to our egret observations at Chincoteague.

Chincoteague Kingfisher

Kingfishers are usually too fast for me to photograph but there was one that had a favorite place along the road to the beach at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (in November). He kept a close watch on the cars that parked along the road but evidently realized that the narrow band of water between him and the road was enough security. He kept his perch while protesting.

What a photogenic bird!

Assateague Lighthouse

We’ve been to Chincoteague many times but the visit last November offered a first for us: climbing the steps inside the Assateague Lighthouse. It was the first thing we did when we got the wildlife refuge! I included my husband in the picture to provide some size perspective. The steps spiral around the inside. There are windows at the landings…and we stopped briefly at every one; by the time we got to the top our legs felt like cooked spaghetti.

The view from the top provides a different view of the refuge (which is actually on Assateague Island). The picture shows the bridge between the refuge and the town of Chincoteague.

The last picture is closer to ground level and shows our first view of the lighthouse as we came up the path - a short stroll from the parking long through the fall foliage of mid-November.

Chincoteague Cormorants

The cormorants were plentiful at Chincoteague when we were there in November.

The first day we saw them in several wet places along the main rode

And then a group on the mudflat just before we reached the beach area. They were preening in the late afternoon sun - unfurling their wings.

One swam way from the group and then flew off low over the water. I like the light on the wings showing the ways the feathers spread as the bird first leaves the water.

The next day we found the birds in the same spots although I didn’t realize it at the top. Doesn’t the post this cormorant is on look the same as the post in the first picture?

Chincoteague Herons

The Great Blue Herons at Chincoteague seemed to be everywhere and were concentrating so hard on fishing that they stayed put for photographs.  I took over 100 pictures and have selected 9 for this post.

This bird was standing on one leg on the shore. It was a very chilly afternoon and his neck feathers appear to be slightly fluffed to keep him warm.

A very determined bird walked along the bank - intent on finding dinner.

A very cold looking bird standing in shallow water. He moved his head a little (the better to see us) but otherwise did not move at all.

Another actively hunting bird but in a tangled mess of branches

Using those branches to survey the possibilities for dinner

Perhaps mistaking his reflection for something edible.

A bird on the move.

A bird hiding

And emerging.

The look in the herons’ eye make it is easy to imagine the relationship of birds and dinosaurs!  

Two Gulls at Chincoteague

There were lots of gulls at Chincoteague. There were tracks all over the beach when we walked there the first afternoon. The wind was cold - not conducive for a long photo session so I focused on one gull that stood surveillance at the water’s edge. Maybe he was watching me - ready to fly away if I took a step closer. I used the zoom on my camera and he continued to pose for the few minutes I tolerated the cold.

The more interesting event happened the next morning. It was still cold. We noticed a gull carrying something swooping down onto a sand bank. We pulled to the side of the rode and I took a series of pictures sitting in the car with the window rolled down!  The gull had caught a crab. The crab was still trying to escape when it was first thrown to the sand bank. But the gull proceeded to eat his catch soon enough. The crab was brunch for the gull!

Chincoteague Sunset…and Sunrise

We arrived at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge at mid-afternoon and decided that we would make the effort to photograph the sunset….and then get up early enough the following morning to photography sunrise.

Here are two sunset pictures - taken about 15 minutes apart. I liked the burned in color.

In between, some birds flew to their evening roosts.

And thus the day slid to evening.

The next morning we were early enough to catch the reds of sunrise.

The lighthouse was still bright over the treetops.

The light turned toward orange,

And then a minute later - faded. A cloud bank must have blocked the sun!

We continued to the shore and saw the thin line of color just over the sea. The cloud layer above was very thick!

Great Falls of the Potomac - Part 1

The Maryland side of the Great Falls of the Potomac are part of the C&O Canal National Historic Park. It was our Labor Day outing this year. Quite a lot of people had the same idea. The parking lot was already half full of cars and there were joggers and walkers - people on their own, couples, groups, families. Starting out the path between the canal and river shows the slower, shallow edge of the river through rocks.

I noticed a tree growing on what looked like solid rock.

The roots cling to each nook and cranny in the rock. Even in the zoomed view below it does not appear that there is much soil.

And then we get to the end of the boardwalk that lifts us over the side channel and over the last rocky ridge to the make falls. The rocks here are scoured bare by water.

To give you a sense of scale - the picture below shows the platform for visitors to view the falls from the Virginia side of the river.

Even with the scouring of the water, there is an algae film visible on some rocks.

When I looked more carefully at one of them I noticed a large pothole had formed. The water level on Labor Day was not high enough to scour it….but the water must get high frequently enough to form it. I’ll look for it every time I go from now on!