This is the second time I booked a boat tour with Chincoteague Island Adventures with Captain Randy Birch. His family has lived on Chincoteague for many generations. The stories he tells and the places we get to see are marvelous. We were the only two on the boat and it was so nice to get a private tour like that. He knows the local fishermen like the ones who showed us their catch of minnows.
This year is the 100th Annual Chincoteague Pony Roundup, Swim & Auction.
We traveled from New York to Chincoteague for a 9 day vacation. During our journey, we stopped at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge for lunch. Then we drove through the preserve. In June diamond back terrapins lay eggs on the dikes. Baby eagles leave the nest.
Water lilies bloom. And black necked stilts start nesting. We also saw a flock of avocets and a fox with it’s kill.
The purple Martins are in their little aprtments. The Oystercatcher looked like it was nesting right next to the road. I saw a small dark shape on the road. It was a box turtle. Some of its shell was scraped off on top, and its back leges were hanging out. We picked it up and it pulled in its legs. I think somone ran over it and it was still in shock. We put it in the grass. I hope it is OK.
There were dozens of huge Snapping Turtles. The highlight of the day was the Eastern Screech Owl that a kind person showed us.
I bought Corel’s Vision FX 2.0 to try out using the add-on’s AI to creatively enhance some of my photography. I used my photo and asked AI to create something using my image. I then added part of that layer over the original in Photoshop. I did not stray far from the original image.
This was a photgraphy trip so whatever wildlife I saw was incidental. I always look around and up.
We stopped briefly at https://njpalisades.org/stateline.html in Alpine, New Jersey and saw a few hawks. Red-tailed Hawk, Coopers, Sharp-shinned Hawk and the resident Peregrine Falcons.
Then we went to have dinner at Kiku at 385 Route 9W, Alpine, NJ 07620 https://www.kikurestaurantsnj.com/. It is very quiet in the regular dining room. I love eating there. The hibachi section is more popular and a little noisier.
On the last day of the trip we visited Halibut Point State Park. It used to be a granite quarry. One of the 6 posts on Cape Ann.
