Photo Miscellany

Wildfire, Chincoteague pony

Black-crowned night heron with meal

Bobcat with kittens

Milky Way

 

New calf

Sherwood Forest tree

California sunset

Various Photos

On 8 May, Boulder had high winds and rain - Golden and Evans, CO had hail....

Golden

Hail in Evans after the snow plows came by...

Red squirrel

Bald eagle on duck blind

Toby, a yearling Chincoteague pony

2017 Chincoteague filly, by Ajax, out of Dream Catcher

Assorted Photos

Bayberry  on Assateague (Maryland)

Red squirrel

Clint Watts, cyber security specialist

Zephraim Cenedi Devine (Nedi) is 7 years old today!

Young horseshoe crabs

A sturgeon

Smooch, Chincoteague pony

Assateague Island in Winter - Photos

Most of these photos were taken by Alan Sklar...

An American Woodcock

Storm wrack - airplane portion with coral and shells attached

Sunset, 29 January 2017

One of the Maryland foals born last summer (possibly Chama's)

Bayberries (wax myrtle) grow wild on Assateague - the waxy coating on

the berries is extremely nourishing, but very few creatures can digest 

it.  They include the yellow-rumped warbler...

the tree swallow, which flocks here in large numbers,

and the "Sika deer", which are Japanese elk.

Chincoteague Ponies Can Do Anything

Chesapeake Boomerang - games

Misty's Cloudbursts - western pleasure

Chance - dressage and eventing

Pitt Pony - equitation

Misty's Chesapeake Bay - hunter under saddle

Island Sky (aka Smokie) - rides and shows English and Western

Chesapeake Bays - lesson horse

Southern Sunshine - eventing

Misty's Crown Prince - dressage

Island Clipper - reining and cutting

Sea Foam - jumper

Seen on Assateague Island - Photos

Cattle egrets in mating plumage on the beach

Wildest Dream, before foaling    -  photo by DSC Photography

Wildest Dream and her bay foal    -   photo by DSC Photography

Surfing duck

Assateague Lightning, a Maryland pony

Tree growth on the northern end of Assateague

Does this pony's forelock make you think of a political candidate?

New Foal and Wildlife

I'm starting to get my horse and pony motors revved up again.  We're 8 weeks away from the running of the 2016 Kentucky Derby, and, last weekend, the first Chincoteague pony foal born on the Virginia end of Assateague Island.  The mare is Tunie, and she has a bay pinto baby.  Darcy Cole is the photographer who tracked them down....  She states the sire is "Hoppy," a bay.  I don't know if she's referring to Little Dolphin, or Effie's Papa Bear….   Darcy calls Effie's Papa Bear "Hoppy."

There are three expectant mares on the Maryland (Northern) end of the island.  Apparently these three did not lose their estrus cycles when darted with their annual birth control medication...

   The birds and other critters are getting the feeling that it's really Spring here in Boulder.  The mating displays can be breath-taking, even when I'm just sitting in the back yard.  Flights, plumage displays, and dancing are very common; and the squirrels are running in patterns only they can see up, down, and around tree trunks.  I stopped the car at 6:10 this morning on a normally busy street to watch three bucks, twelve does, and eight yearlings slowly walk across traffic.  

   I feel so lucky to be able to observe nature - one is not going to see a herd of mule deer crossing the street in any large city.  And, even though I frequently see elk, I am still surprised by their size and majesty.  Buffalo, or bison, are just amazing.  And I'm used to handling large horses, including draft horses and draft crosses - I guess it's because they are wild creatures.

Photo HodgePodge

View of Wallops Island, and southern Chincoteague and Assateague Islands, from the International Space Station.   The old Chincoteague NAS, now NOAA, is visible on the mainland.