My husband and I just spent a 3-day weekend at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island, Virginia, with other members of the Gaithersburg Camera Club. It was absolutely GORGEOUS!!! There were thousands of beautiful snow geese – I’ve never seen anything like it! Shortly after we first arrived on Friday afternoon, they all took off into the air at the same time! And Saturday morning, we saw them land at the same time in these spirals. It looked like a tornado! It was absolutely incredible! Here are my photos of the Friday afternoon takeoff.
And here are my photos of the Saturday morning landing. Is it not amazing or what???
Saturday afternoon, we took a ride over to the Pocomoke River State Park in Maryland (about 45 minutes from Chincoteague) to see their Scales and Tails program, where we saw a red-tailed hawk, barred owl, eastern screech owls, and a broad-winged hawk. The eastern screech owls were my favorites – they were so cute! Really small, and they looked like cats! I love cats… I think that’s why I liked them so much.
Then, Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL sunset with all the geese in the water.
Sunday morning, we were on the beach watching this little bird. As the waves drew back, the bird would run in to eat what the waves had brought, and when the waves came roaring back, it would run away, water nipping at its little feet.
Here’s a few final photos.
This was our first trip to Chincoteague. We recommend it!!! Many, many thanks to Bill Hamm for organizing a spectacular trip and to all the Gaithersburg Camera Club members for their wonderful company!
p.s. We just bought our plane tickets for our upcoming trip to Utah! We’ll be visiting Arches, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Escalante, Bryce Canyon, and Zion at a minimum. We are so excited!!! It’s going to be GORGEOUS!!! We spent one night in Chincoteague checking out the photos of Alan and Paula’s trip to Utah (they just got back). Thanks to them for sharing and to Alan for so very kindly picking up a tour guide and map for me!
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I own a piece of property on Chincoteague. It is vacant land and I am told that I cannot build because of the septic problem. ( Until they have a sewer system)
Your photos encourage me to hold on to the property.
They are beautiful.
Thank you
Paula Jenkins
Superb Images Irene! Thanks for sharing. I love Chincoteague, this has been my favorite refuge for many many years. Cheers!
Hi Irene, Great photos of Chincoteaque. I love the place too. I’ve seen 137 different birds on the island on numerous visits. That may be the most I’ve seen at any National Wildlife Refugee, so a great place to visit.
Tom
Thanks for sharing Irene. I agree with you it was an awesome trip. Your photos are beautiful.