What Lives On Assateague Island? - The Mammals

Lots and lots of creatures live on Assateague Island, and/or in and on the surrounding waters. Despite the often harsh conditions that occur in a coastal environment, a wide variety of animal species have managed to find a niche on, or around, Assateague, which stretches from southern Maryland to northern Virginia in the Atlantic Ocean.  Each of the island's different ecological zones provide habitat for a multitude of animals; these include birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates.  Today, I'll write about the mammals - those air-breathing, warm-blooded creatures like us, who walk upon the ground or swim in the ocean.
   More than twenty-five types of mammals live in or around the island of Assateague; the most well-known are the wild ponies.  They are descendants of feral horses and ponies; the first-known being the blinded Spanish pit ponies that were ship-wrecked on the island from the galleon La Galga, and were noted in a report to Spain by the Spanish ambassador.  The people of coastal Maryland and Virginia were taxed upon ownership of livestock, and they allowed their stock to run free on Assateague to avoid payment of said taxes, and, so, the "wild ponies" of Assateague came about.  The 80-plus ponies living on the Maryland end of Virginia receive only contraceptive darts for care; the ponies in Virginia belong to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, and are kept on Assateague via a contract with the US government.  The ponies feed primarily on salt-marsh cord grass, but also consume beach grass, greenbriar, bayberry, poison ivy, and many other types of vegetation that are not in the usual horse's diet.
   Other large mammals also roam the parks (the Assateague National Seashore and the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge) grazing and browsing on low-lying vegetation.  They are the indigenous Virginia White-tailed deer, and the non-native Sika deer, a miniature type of Asian elk, who were introduced to Assateague in the 1920s.  On-going research is evaluating the ecological effects of Sika deer on both native vegetation communities and their effect upon other wildlife, including the native white-tailed deer.
   The other other mammals range in size from small rodents, to bats, to furry critters, to large marine mammals - including the bottlenose dolphin and several species of whale that feed in the island's offshore waters.  Besides the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, the Atlantic white-sided dolphin, and the common dolphin are frequently seen around the island - in the ocean and in the channels and bays.
Whale sightings include the fin whale, humpback whale, pilot whale, sperm whale and right whale. Seals are occasionally seen resting on Assateague Island, also; usually sighted are the harp seal, harbor seal, and, rarely, the hooded seal.
   Red foxes build dens in sand dunes and roam the island hunting for mice, birds, insects, and berries. Opossums  and raccoons provide the important environmental service of waste removal, feeding on the island's carrion, as well as insects, larvae, berries and small rodents.  The only marsupial in North America, the opossum give birth to premature young which complete their development in a pouch on the outside of the mother's body.
   Rodents such as the meadow jumping mouse and meadow vole live in grasses bordering both salt- and freshwater wetlands.  They feed on seeds, wetland plants, and in the case of the jumping mouse, insects.  Though seldom seen, both river otters and muskrat make their home in the island's marshes and adjacent waterways.
 A listing of mammals on and around Assateague Island:
Chincoteague/Assateague ponies
Red fox
Whales - fin, humpback, pilot, right, and sperm
White-tailed deer
Bats - little brown, red, and silver-haired
Delmarva fox squirrel
Raccoon
Eastern cottontail rabbit
Dolphins - Atlantic bottlenose, Atlantic white-sided, and common
Sika deer (miniature Asian elk)
Mice - house, meadow jumping, and white-footed
River otter
Rats - Norway and rice
Least shrew
Muskrat
Virginia opossum
Meadow jumping vole
Seals - harbor, harp, and hooded

Victorian Illustrations

Beatrix Potter

Louis Wain

Amazing - It's Snowing In Colorado

We got about fives inches of snow yesterday, and the forecasters say we'll get another five inches today.  The weather folks are saying our high today might be 8 degrees - it's currently 3 degrees and the wind chill is listed as -8.  A thin layer of ice is underneath all the snow, so the roads and sidewalks are very slippery.  I decided that I needed to step out, having stayed inside all of yesterday, so I stepped onto the patio and put out more high-fat nuts for the squirrels and birds, and placed the large bowl of wild bird seed mix at the snow line on the concrete.  The bowl has a light covering of snow already, but the birds are also coming in and getting some food in the constantly falling snow.  The snow itself is very light and dry - not enough moisture to make a good snow man, snow cat, or any type of snow sculpture - and it crunches when stepped on.  The weather folks say our low tonight will be about 10 degrees below 0.
   I also bundled up - undies, winter leggings, sweatpants, jeans, T-shirt, turtleneck, cotton sweater, and winter coat - and walked the block to the bakery and grocery store.  My glasses fogged immediately when I stepped out the door - and even though I had my scarf firmly wrapped about my nose, mouth, chin and neck, they stayed fogged until I wiped them off inside the shop.  I got myself a nice, warm blueberry whole wheat bagel, a bag of treats for the kits, a pouch of special treat food for the kits, and a can of chicken noodle soup.
   Nedi is disappointed because I won't let him go out and play for more than 5 minutes at a time in this weather.  Lovey will run out and step into the snow, but then she wants right back inside.  Nedi wants to hunker down beside a wall and see if he can catch anything that might happen to pass by.  Thankfully, the mice and voles are staying in their holes and tunnels - but I did check the inside of my snow boots very carefully this morning, before I stuck my feet in.  (When Nedi's upset with me, he goes and gets into one of his three "hidey-holes" in the closet, where I can't find him easily.  Lovey just curls up on the bed and ignores me.) We'll warm up a bit next week.... I hope.

Football, Sister, and Cats

Well, the Gamecocks didn't play this past weekend, the CU Buffs lost, the Gators beat the Commodores at Vanderbilt, and for most of the first half I was worried that the Oakland Raiders were going to pull an upset and beat the Broncos.  But the men in orange and blue finally got on track with about 3 minutes left in the first half.  Peyton Manning threw 5 touchdown passes, and Brock Ostweiler played quarterback the entire fourth quarter.  The Broncos won the game 41 to 17.  It was fun to watch the game with my nephew and brother-in-law - normally, it's just me and the cats at home.
   Kathy is doing well, and has not taken any pain medication (other than Tylenol) since she was discharged from the hospital...  She had a very good day yesterday, and was greatly cheered by a visit from her granddaughter and Evie's parents.  Mike and Jim spent the day making applesauce and slicing apples to place in the two dehydrators.  Bernie acted as Kathy's hands and arms yesterday morning, and I did so all afternoon.  One of the long-time neighbors brought over a thick vegetable soup that was made with items grown in their yard, along with roasted pears.  They also brought a tin of marscapone cheese to slather on top of the pears - it was heavenly!
   My kits were very happy to run outside when I arrived home, just after dark.  I knew that Lovey and Nedi had been in and out, but didn't really pay their trips that much attention.  Just before going to bed, I went to the bathroom - and there was a lone mouse, huddling in on itself, near the rear of the tub.  I turned the mouse loose in the front of the apartment building, and the opening and closing of the hall door brought both Lovey and Nedi inside.  Nedi immediately went to check on his mouse and I watched him search the entire apartment (in vain) for his new buddy.
  It's 54 degrees outside and breezy.  The weatherman just said that we'll have 1 inch of snow on the ground by 6 this evening, and that the temperature will fall 30 degrees over a period of 2 hours.  Yikes!  This is our current forecast  (temperatures are in Fahrenheit) :

Today

57° | 14°

Rain/Snow Likely

Veterans Day

20° | 3°

Slight Chc Snow

Wednesday

12° | 8°

Snow Likely

Thursday

22° | 17°

Chance Snow

Friday

37° | 19°

Slight Chc Snow

Saturday

29° | 14°

Chance Snow

Bits And Pieces

One of my cousins lives in Washington, DC.  A few weekends ago, she and a friend ordered cheeseburgers, fries, and drinks, and sat outside at a bistro-style sidewalk table while waiting for their order.  They were talking about the popularity of zombies on television, and the proliferation of zombie-based computer games.  A complete stranger, who was sitting several tables away from them, suddenly jumped up and ran at my cousin and her friend.  As he approached, he began yelling that he was a zombie.  He knocked the table over, grabbed my cousin's arm, and bit a piece of flesh, the size of a tablespoon, out of her forearm.  Other diners restrained the man and he was arrested.  My cousin, who had paid a little over $5 for her meal, never got the food.  She was taken to the local emergency room, and given a tetanus shot, an antibiotic shot, and a course of antibiotic pills.  In six months, she has to be tested for Hepatitis and for HIV...    So much for a quick lunch with a friend!
  My cats are normal cats.  They have their natural hunting instinct, even though they know I'm not fond of them bringing dead prey to me.  I've had to laugh over the past nine years, while in this apartment, at some of the critters my children have caught and brought in for me to see.  In the spring, they usually bring me baby chipmunks and baby squirrels, which I turn loose again.  (Actually, if the critter is undamaged, it always goes back out, once I've checked it over.)  Young birds are brought in all the time, except the dead of winter.  Grass snakes are brought in and placed in the bathtub.  While Banichi was still with us (before Nedi), he and Lovey gathered up 19 baby field mice from a nest and put all of them in the bathtub in a two-hour time period.  As the weather here has gotten slowly colder, the kits have been bringing in mice recently.  I knew that one had escaped me for several days, but Nedi was usually on patrol where the mouse was hiding, so it didn't bother me.  Yesterday afternoon, I had to used the bathroom.  As my pants settled around my ankles, I glanced to my left, and saw Nedi curled up at the back of the tub.  As he sleeps there frequently, I didn't think anything of it.  Then I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.  I thought Nedi had shifted, but as I glanced over, I realized his fur was moving.  Then I looked even more closely, and realized the mouse was crawling all over Nedi, while Nedi slept through it.  I finished what I was doing, grabbed a jar, and caught the little mousie and turned him loose again.  Nedi has been looking everywhere in the house, and frequently in the tub, for his little buddy.
   And, just as a side note, from 12:00 a.m. Tuesday, until 12 a.m. Wednesday, I received 6 telephone calls, 2 mailed advertisements, and 106 e-mails regarding the need for me to get out and vote yesterday. Having voted on 22 October, I am happy that voting day is over!

Operation Safe Sparrow Successful

I was beginning to get worried this morning...  the sparrow that Nedi had caught yesterday was still at large in the apartment, albeit out of sight.  The kits have been very successful hunting since my return - I guess they need to get it out of their system, after being "trapped" inside for 5 days, while I was on vacation.  Saturday, they caught several young mice, but didn't harm them; Saturday night, Nedi brought in a live field mouse, but by the time I could get to him, he was dead.  I let the kits play with the body until they were bored, then I put the poor thing in the trash.  Lovey caught a large vole last night, just after dark, and killed it before bringing it inside - she was very vocal about her kill and demanded a great deal of praise.  I gave it to her, and about an hour later, quietly dropped that animal into the trash.
  But, mid-morning yesterday, Nedi came running in, growling around a completely limp female sparrow.  He and Lovey were skirmishing over ownership, and since the bird looked very dead, I decided to ignore them. A few hours later, I was surprised by the rush of wings over my head - the sparrow had revived.  Of course, the kits had to chase it all around the house. The bird flew into an open bureau, then dropped down to the floor, and ran under my bed. I opened the patio door to it's widest, and made sure the curtains were wide open, also - and hoped that the bird would find it's way outside.  It never did, but fluttered in and out of hiding spots all afternoon.  I guess it settled down for the night after 8 p.m. - didn't hear it at all, until I got up this morning.  It was fluttering about, both under my bed, and by the bureau - I could hear it's wings, and an occasional chirp.  So I once again opened the patio door and the curtains, and hoped for the best. Amazingly, it happened!  The bird appeared on the end of an art tube, and then winged very gracefully out the back door.  It was a big relief for me, if not for the kits.
  This morning was kind of chilly, but I wandered over to the store and got my fresh-baked bagel and returned home.  Just as I was leaving to go walk Rosie, the wind grew much stronger, and thunder began to rumble and then boom. Trees were thrashing against the sky, and a light rain, mixed with tiny hail started to fall.  I've pushed back my time for walking Rosie, hoping this weather will blow over...  The weather folks are talking about a mix of snow and rain for tonight and tomorrow morning.  - And I had just become happy with the 80s in Oklahoma City; how foolish of me!

If You Can Adopt a Pet, Please Do

I just opened and read one of my regular notices from my local Humane Society (of Boulder Valley)...  being a little burned out this afternoon, I went on and looked at the adoption web site.  There are currently 123 cats and kittens needing a home.  There are 49 dogs and puppies waiting for someone to love them.  And there are 5 mice and 4 guinea pigs looking for new playmates.
If you CAN adopt, there is no shortage of "friends for life" available at your local Humane Society or Animal Shelter.