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:

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

    Happy Anniversary and Mother's day belated.
    xo

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  2. 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.

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

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  4. 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.

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

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

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

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

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  9. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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  15. 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.

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

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  17. yeah, that is a place to love. :)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    www.ewok1993.wordpress.com

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  25. 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.

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

    Love all your images. It is a beautiful place.

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  27. wonderful post and lovely photos.

    Dan

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  28. 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!

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  29. 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

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

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  31. 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.

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  32. 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!

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

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

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  35. 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

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  36. 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

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

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

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

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  40. 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!!

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

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

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

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  44. 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!

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

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  46. Hi, Eileen!

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

    Have a great day always.

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

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

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

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

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

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  52. Gorgeous pictures. Happy anniversary.

    Jocelyn
    http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com

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

    Tink *~*~*

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  54. 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/

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  55. 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

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

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Have a happy day, Eileen

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