October 9, 2005 - Clermont, FL
And we found them! The wild horses, that is. But before then.........
On Assateague Island, the visitor center for the National Park Service is at Toms Cove. Across the street from the center was this egret with a kink in his neck.
But he managed to get rid of it eventually. Saw one later in the day who was looking over some grass, and was all stretched out (really funny looking). We seldom see them all stretched out for more than a second as that's usually only done to catch their meal. The boardwalk from Toms Cove took us out to the beach and on the way we saw these little crabs. Are they fiddler crabs or baby blue crabs? Some of them had some blue on them. If you look carefully you'll see they're just like Barb and me. Some are left handed (Barb) and some right handed (me)--curious.
Several surprises in the dune we were walking over on this boardwalk. One was this daisy looking flower, and the other was some cactus! In VA, yet.
Now forgive me for being a little confused. Toms Cove is part of the National Park Service, but it's located on Assateague Island. And so is the Chincoteague Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, which is part of the Fish and Wildlife Service. And to complicate things further, you have to drive over Chincoteague Island to get to Assateague Island. And if we were to have taken the time to drive a little ways north, (into Maryland) we'd have been able to go on the Assateague Island National Seashore past the Barrier Island Visitor center which is the National Park Headquarters, and abutting that is the Assateague State Park. So, Assateague Island is apparently divided into 3 segments. Assateague State Park at the north, Assateague Island National Seashore in the middle, and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the south end. Sheesh! Do we have enough government agencies controlling of our land yet? Oh, and that's not even mentioning the Assateague Lighthouse run by the Coast Guard. I gave up trying to figure it all out (I'm not the expert after all)--seems a little nuts to me though. We then took a bike ride. Around the aptly named "Wildlife Loop." Not sure who lived in this nest box, but it was obvious they didn't like snakes visiting them for dinner.
Had to slow down for some of the local traffic along the way. That's a white tailed deer, and later we saw a Sika Elk. It was about 1/2 the size of this doe and had white spots and we wrongly assumed it was a late season fawn. The Sika Elk is an Asian elk which was released on Assateague Island in the 1920's. There were several boardwalks around this paved trail, and I managed to catch this grasshopper just before it took off. Before 3PM no vehicles other than wheelchairs and bicycles are allowed on the trail, and that makes for some pretty leisurely riding and hiking.
This broad marshy area was in the center of the loop, but no horses in sight. Did spot some of the other locals though.
We'd hoped to spot more migrating birds, and while we did enjoy seeing some ducks and these geese, we didn't see much else. Barb caught me getting ready to load the bikes back up after our 3 or 4 mile ride. First real bike ride we'd had in a very long time, and 3 or 4 miles was long enough for today.
Barb took the camera and recorded something that interested her (abandoned shoes) and I then did the same. I guess we have different tastes, eh?
On one of the walking trails, we spotted this interesting looking bug. Got a major hump on its back with spines on it. Wonder if our friends from Canada will recognize this little guy. Once it realized it was on my shoe, it walked off.
AHA! The wild "ponies" of Assateague Island. They're not ponies at all, but feral horses. Seems that during the 17th century, taxation and fencing requirements on the mainland gave the farmers incentive to bring their livestock over here for grazing. The horses are a bit small in size and well adapted to the salt environment they live in. Humans have supplied water tanks in a few places for them, and annually there's a big party when they round some of them up and sell the foals at auction. The Maryland/Virginia border divides the island, and there's a fence to keep the horses separated into two main herds. The Maryland herd is managed by the National Park Service, and the population is controlled by a birth-control serum injected into the mares by a dart gun. The Virginia herd is owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company and is allowed by permit to graze on the Chincoteague refuge. Each year horses from the Virginia herd are rounded up and they swim the narrow channel between the island and the mainland, and that's where the auction takes place. The money raised goes to support the Fire Department. I like the Virginia way of doing business better than the Maryland method, in case you were wondering.
Barb is standing by some brush alongside the trail we found to be unique. At least to us. Tall, delicate, and pretty, but they're probably just weeds.
And there's a close-up of the brush, and a parting shot of a stallion following his mares. All the horses have the these big bellies, apparently from all the salt they ingest from the grasses they eat. Doesn't slow them down a bit, however. They've adapted to these conditions quite nicely, and in an experiment to help prevent inbreeding problems, some mustangs from Nevada were introduced into the herd. They didn't make it. Weather too harsh and grazing not to their liking.
Barb took these shots, as my shoulder wanted a rest after the bike ride and other hikes. Then she caught me getting all the news from friends Bill & Carol who are still in WA after their AK trip. The original lighthouse was built in 1833 and was only 45 feet high--insufficient for warning ships of dangerous shoals. Thus, its rebuilding in 1866 and 1867 to 142 feet. Way back then, the light was provided by 11 small oil lamps, each with its own reflector. In 1867, this light system was replaced by a large Fresnel lens and a single oil (fish) lamp with four wicks. The lighthouse keeper was responsible for keeping the oil lamps lit. In 1933, the third light appeared--it was still a Fresnel lens, but it became a flashing electric light lit by three 100-watt bulbs and powered by generators; it became an all-electric light in 1963 when power came to the island. It was upgraded again in 1970 and now has two large drums, each with 1000-watt bulbs, a light pattern of a flash every five seconds, and visible up to 19 nautical miles away. Since 2004, the lighthouse is owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service though it's still used by the Coast Guard (go figure!) and is still an active aid to navigation.
A parting shot of the TTN preserve in Painter, near Quinby, VA, before we drove the 70 some odd miles to Norfolk where we parked at the Elks Lodge. Had to drive over and under the Chesapeake Bay, which made this old claustrophobic duffer sweat a bit. Eric and Martha came over for the evening and we started getting caught up on some history with each other. Eric had surgery on his shoulder earlier in the week, so we could talk about that too. These two are some of our oldest friends, outside of family. We met them in late May or early June of 1974 when Eric was hired to take my position with the Air Force Plant Representatives Office at Aerojet General, in Rancho Cordova, Sacramento. They were fresh out of college and hadn't been married too long, and didn't even own a car. HA! And I'd had how many by then? Well over 50 if you count the VW's I'd salvaged and rebuilt. Didn't take them long to realize that the best car in the world (back then) was a split-window 36hp beetle. We all wish they'd kept it! Worth one whale of a lot of money today, they're so rare.
And here they are at our house in Todd's Valley, CA, near Foresthill, CA, which is near Auburn, CA. They drove that car for years and years. Today they're on their fourth car, a Toyota Camry. Can you believe it? Four cars in 31 years! Can you imagine what it would be like if more of us were like that? They simply buy good cars, take care of them, and keep them forever. They still have the third one, another Toyota.
Then not long after, something less than a year as I recall, they left the Sacramento area and came to Seattle. Not so much to be with us, but because Eric was accepted into the University of Washington doctoral program, and he eventually got his PhD. in economics. Been teaching at Old Dominion University there in Norfolk, VA, for the past 21 years. Those years in Seattle were special to us all, and we did lots of hiking, biking, sailing, and general goofing off together. Barb and I had an old 1941 Ford pickup, and it seems we were always moving somebody from one apartment to another, or in the case of this picture, us from an apartment into a house. What fond memories with very special people.
This was our "yard" at the Elks Lodge. Pretty fancy digs, particularly since we were in a mostly industrial area of town. Then on Sunday after church, it was lunch time at Panera's, a favorite of theirs. Barb had blabbed about it being my 65th birthday, and Martha surprised me with the muffin under a candle.