Assateague 2023 Assateague Island National Seashore, May 2023

We were all set to go to Curacao at the end of April. We spent days packing just the right things to bring, and we were excited for that new destination. We were planning to sleep early because we had to be awake at around 03:00 to make our morning flight. At 6:30PM we get a call from Jet Blue. Our flights are cancelled. They have helpfully booked us on a similar flight the following day. Except that would cut our trip short one day and it was only a one week trip. We spent many hours on the phone trying to fix the mess. They had really only cancelled the first leg (to JFK). We could have driven to JFK and caught the second leg. Except we didn't have those seats anymore. Jet Blue suggested we buy new seats (at double what we had paid for the flights originally). So nice of them. Long story short: we did not go to Curacao. Hali scrambled and put together a last minute idea to head down to Assateague for a week -- perfect! In a frenzy, we went about packing totally different clothing (and photography gear), and drove down the next afternoon. We got to Assateague super late, but we had begun our vacation after all! Plus there were no airlines to deal with! #NEVERFLYJETBLUE

We had been to Assateague once before (almost exactly 2 years before), but we had never been to Chincoteague. This time around, we split the trip between the Maryland part of the park (at Assateague) and the Virginia part of the park (at Chincoteague). We had great weather, with only one day with a little rain -- not enough to stop us from shooting! We spent 2 days in Assateague, then drove down to Chincoteague for 3 days there, and then drove back for 2 more days in Assateague. That worked out really well! We had a great time shooting mostly horses in Assateague and mostly birds in Chincoteague. We've include some images below to help us recall the trip in future years, and to share with our friends. We hope you enjoy the images and get some small sense of our holiday adventure . Happy trails! Mike & Hali

*** Click on grouped images to see the full size image ***

Assateague (Day 1)

Without an OSV (over sand vehicle) permit, the Assateague portion of the park is not huge. Still, I would love to spend the summer here, with a surfboard as well as a camera. The red "X" marks on the map show our favorite spots to visit, looking for horses or other things to shoot.

We were not getting up early on the first day, because we didn't get to sleep until about 2AM. But we *did* get up before sunrise almost every other day. We drove around a bit and spotted some interesting things...

After getting up at a reasonable hour that first morning we stocked up on food supplies and water and drove around the back roads. (R) - On the way to the refuge we saw the first of the derelict houses we would see during the trip. We also found out that people don't really approve of taking pictures of these houses. (L) Early walk along the beach. The fences seemed to be more buried in the sand than our last visit 2 years ago. Both images done with the full spectrum converted Canon RP. The pink tones come from a hypercolor filter, the right used the same filter, but converted to monochrome.

We took a walk to the ocean-side beach and found a few laughing gulls jostling for position on the posts in the sand, there had been quite of bit of rain the few days before we got down there and there were pools of water along the road, we saw a few willets fishing in them. Both images with the Canon R5 and the 100-500mm lens.

The horses are the main show for many visitors to this portion of the park, and they are not that difficult to find. I'm not sure of the horse on the left, but I think it may be Korona K. The horse on the right is Bright Star. Both images shot with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

Two images of April Star. She is quite the force in her herd. On the right she was not happy with one of the young stallions and proceeded to show him who was boss, you can see the water coming off of his coat from where she hit him with her foreleg. Both images with the Canon R5 and the 100-500mm lens.

We spotted some Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) late in the afternoon. The image on the left <HALI>. The image on the right was taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

Unlike some people, we are always good about keeping our distance from wild animals. In this case, the horse fed it's way closer to Hali while she was seated. Sometimes your best play is just to be still and not make any sudden moves. This was a phone picture (iPhone 13 Pro).

Assateague (Day 2)

Mike made an effort to take more close-up shots of the horses during this visit. Sometimes that paid off and sometimes it didn't. On the top left is Maximus Murphy. On the top right is Billy Bob. On the bottom is TJ Hollywood. All images shot with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

(L) "I'm too pretty for my mane" Silver Spurs Island Mist having a relaxing moment and letting the wind blow through his beautiful mane. (R) Maximus Murphy strutting his stuff on the (horse) walk. Both pictures taken with the Canon R5 and the RF100-500mm lens.

Both images - Billy Bob looking for Suzie Sole, his only mare, she was off having his foal and he was running up and down the road neighing while he was looking for her. Both were taken with the Canon R5 and the 100-500mm lens.

On the left is an abstract that Mike created from a shot taken down near site 100, Nikon Z9 with a 80-400mm lens. On the right is the same gentleman on the sand contemplating infinity whilst gazing out into the ocean, Canon R5 with a 100-500mm lens.

On left is an image of a photographer photographing a photographer photographing a photographer ( Nikon D750 IR image convert to B/W). On right is one of those small scenes that Hali likes to shoot. A piece of broken-down beach fence, Canon R5 with a RF 100-500mm lens

Catbird having a snack. We see them a lot at home, but this one was in decent light and held still for long enough to get a few shots. Canon R5 with a RF 100-500mm lens.

After an early morning session in Assateague, we drove down to Chincoteague for the next leg of our trip. Our first time there!

I think we took these IR images during our drive down to Chincoteague. This home seemed like it was being swallowed by the foliage, and we thought it would make a good infrared image. The image on the left was taken with the LifePixel hypercolor image on a full spectrum converted Canon RP with the 24-240mm lens and converted to b&w. The image on the right was taken with a Nikon D750 convert to 550nm IR and the 24-120mm lens.

More infrared images. These we taken during our first drive around the Chincoteague park. The image on the left was taken with the full spectrum converted Canon RP and a 720nm filter with an RF 24-240mm lens. The image on the right was taken with a Nikon D750 convert to 550nm IR and the 24-120mm lens.

Chincoteague (Day 3)

Chincoteague and Assateague are two different parts of the same barrier island -- a very long barrier island that spans two states and over 24 square miles. This image is compliments of our friends at google maps.

The beach area at Chincoteague seems HUGE. All the better to handle the summer crowds. We have never been here in summer, but we've heard that it's very popular. This panoramic image is was taken using Mike's phone during our first morning at Chincoteague.

The bay side of the beach and the road into the park were both good spots for birding. Sleeping Willets (on left) and a Great Egret with less than great catch (on right). Both images were taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

Getting to the Assateague lighthouse requires a small walk down lighthouse trail (an 0.4 mile loop). The image on the left is a 3 image vertical panoramic taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens. The image on right is an iPhone image.

Yep, it's those small scenes again. The windows on the Chincoteague Lighthouse and the patterns of the bricks were very interesting to Hali. Canon R5 with an RF 100-500mm lens.

It's just a Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla) on a sand dune, but this is one of Mike's favorite images from the trip. Taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

Top left is a Great Egret. Top right is two Laughing Gulls doing the courtship thing. They raise their heads straight up and cry out. Then they peek over at the other, as if to make sure the other gull is doing the same thing. This goes on for a while until the male literally jumps on top of the female. This is how little seagulls are made. Both top images were taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens. The bottom image are two common terns sharing food. We heard the one sitting on the broken piece of piling in the water crying out and watched as the other came to deliver this nice fish. Our legs were pretty sore from crouching down while we waited but it was worth it. The bottom image was taken with the Canon R5 and the 100-500mm lens.

Chincoteague Lighthouse in Infrared, taken from the main road to the beach. Full Spectrum converted Canon RP with a 720nm filter and the 24-240mm lens.

A different view of the Chincoteague Lighthouse, also in Infrared, but done in faux color. Full spectrum converted Canon RP with a 720nm filter and the 24-240 lens.

Chincoteague (Day 4)

Just a few mid-morning birding shots. Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) are on the left and the right. A Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) is in the middle. All three images were taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

This map is a great view of the Chincoteague park and the trails. The "Wildlife loop" road is only open to car traffic after 5pm, but we never had any good sightings while there. The shoreline along Tom's Cove was often a happening spot. This is a trailhead map photographed with the iPhone.

The cute little Sika deer were not as skittish as I would have expected them to be. These were taken on the Woodland Trail using a Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

Three more of the Sika deer. Sika deer are also known as the Northern spotted deer or the Japanese deer. They are originally from East Asia and are part of the genus "Cervus" known as "true deer" which have three species - the European Red Deer, the Central Asian Red Deer, and the American Elk. Sika deer have been introduced all over the world, and while they do not pose a threat to any populations in the US, in Scotland they can interbreed with the native red deer in the Highlands and pose a threat to the gene pool of that population. Canon R5 with the RF 100-500 lens.

Have you ever wondered what those shorebirds are picking up from the sand along the shoreline? It might just be sand crabs (AKA mole crabs). On the top left, a Willet (Tringa semipalmata) has a good catch. On the top right, a juvenile Sanderling (Calidris alba) is running from its friends while it tries to hang on to its sand crab snack. On bottom left is a beach selfie of the two of us. It was cool enough that we had jackets on most of the time, but great shooting weather. On bottom right is the view of the lighthouse from the west (on Chincoteague island proper, looking towards Assateague Beach). The selfie was taken with an iPhone, but the other shots were taken with a Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

Pretty little Sanderlings all in a row. Taken with the Canon R5 and the 100-500mm lens.

Chincoteague/Assateague (Day 5)

We got to Tom's Cove at around 05:30 to get some birds in the early morning light. We were lucky and had some White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) in good light. The left and right images are juveniles and the center image is an adult. When the light hits their eyes just right, you can really see their beautiful blue eye color. These images were taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

On left is a Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor), shot during the last minutes of early morning light. On right is an image of an American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus), taken a few hours later. There seems to be an ambitious oystercatcher tracking project under weigh, and we saw someone at the beach with a spotting scope taking notes on the band IDs. Both images taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

As the gold of the early morning light was waning, we found this Great Egret (Ardea alba) doing some nest building. On the right is the same bird in an interesting position. Both images taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

After our morning session at Chincoteague, we packed up and drove back to Assateague.

Some afternoon horse images! On the left is Finn Radar 918, a stallion. In the middle is another of shot of Finn, in slightly different light. On right is image of April Star, a mare. All shots were taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

Walkin' along a Country Road. Chief ambling down the road early in the morning. Canon R5 with the RF100-500mm lens.

Chief, from Billy Bob's band by the side of the road. And later on, April Star from Sarah's SweetTea Band jumping over the low fence on the entrance road. Canon R5 with the RF 100-500mm lens.

Two shots of Sarah's SweetTea. Canon R5 with the RF 100-500mm lens.

Two faux color images from the Nikon D750 convert to 550nm IR. The image on the left was shot on Assateauge Road (let's say it's a "fixer upper"). The image on the right is just a stand of back-lit trees. Don't forget to click these images to view them at full size.

Assateague (Day 6)

Assateague wasn't all about the horses. We encountered some exciting birds as well, although certainly not as many as in Chincoteague. On the Left an Osprey on a dead tree. On the right a Green Heron that was high in a different dead tree. Both images taken with the Canon R5 and the RF 100-500mm lens.

More birds in Assateague - A Blue Grossbeak (A lifer bird for Hali) and a Great Egret mid swallow of a small fish from a pond. Both shots taken with the Canon R5 and the RF 100-500mm lens.

Two infrared shots of the same dilapidated old barn near Assateague. The one on the right Haliused a hypercolor filter from LifePixel and converted to B&W, the left was with a 720nm filter. Both are from the full spectrum converted Canon RP with the 24-240mm lens.

On top left is "Susi Sole", not long after giving birth to a beautiful little colt. On top right is Susi from a different angle. On the bottom is Finn Radar 918, chasing after another horse. All shots were taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens.

Suzie Sole and her colt. He was about a week old and varied between checking everything out and sleeping. The herd seemed to watch out for him and mom though. Both shots are from the Canon R5 and the RF 100-500mm lens.

On left is the obligatory fence post image (taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400mm lens). It makes you wonder if the sand dune was once lower in this area. On right is an infrared image taken from the end of Bayside Drive (shot taken with the Nikon D750 converted to 550nm and the 24-120mm lens).

"Patricia Irene" is a beautiful mare. In this image, she is grazing her way through some shrubs, and occasionally stopping to use the shrubs as scratching posts. The horses always have a bloated appearance to our eyes. One possible explanation for this can found at www.chincoteague.com: "Assateague Island is a harsh environment for the Ponies and their diet is limited. The Ponies have adapted to the limited diet over the hundreds of years they have lived on Assateague. The Ponies primarily eat the salt water cord grass that grows in the marshes on Assateague Island. They eat almost all day just to get enough nutrition from this diet to sustain themselves. The salt content of the cord grass is very high. To compensate for all the salt in the cord grass they drink twice as much water as a normal horse. This is why their bellies appear so bloated." Shot with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400 lens.

For our last night at the park we decided to watch the sunset from the end of Bayside Drive. The top-left image is a six image pano taken with the Nikon Z9 and the 80-400 lens. The selfie on the top-right is a phone shot. The bottom image is a phone panoramic image.

Day 7 - we drove home! :-)

Created By

Jim and Hali Sowle

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