The winds were howling and the rains were falling when I got up on Tuesday morning. I decided to get an early start on the drive to Chincoteague since there was no point in hanging around the Cape Charles area. But first, I had to have a hearty breakfast at Sting-Ray's. Despite the rains, the drive up to Chincoteague was uneventful; because of it, I hardly saw any birds along the way.
I checked
in at a motel and then proceeded directly to Chincoteague National Wildlife
Refuge. The winds were really intense and the heavy rain was blowing horizontally.
This was caused by the remnants of Hortense. Although no longer a tropical
storm, she still packed a lot of fury. Bedraggled egrets and cormorants,
as well as gulls and terns, braved the weather. Mute swans and at least
one pied-billed grebe swam seemingly unperturbed in Swan Cove.
I drove on through the rain and came to Tom's Cove. The wind was whipping the sands off the dunes and driving it across the flat areas. The sand almost appeared to be flowing down the dunes. A sanderling probed the puddles formed along the edges of the parking lot. I watched a Forster's tern flying. Actually, it made no headway, but would only rise and fall as it struggled against the wind. I had spent about 2 hours at the refuge and decided that I would go back to my motel, take a break, and return in the afternoon so I could drive the wildlife loop.
An emergency vehicle blocked off the road to my motel because of a downed power line. Since I only had to go a little bit down the road, they did let me through. The power line did not affect my motel, but when I woke from a nap later on, there was no power in my motel. I went back to the wildlife refuge and had to go off the road to drive around a fallen tree branch. I figured that I would retrace my morning route and then, at three o'clock, head for the wildlife loop. I was not in the park for more than ten minutes before a ranger came and said that everyone had to leave the refuge because of hazardous conditions. I later heard that more than five inches of rain fell at Chincoteague that day.
I had heard that
the nearby Saxis Wildlife Management Area was a good place for birds. Because
of the weather, I did not think that birding would be good this day, but
decided to see the area anyway. Many of the roads and streets on the way
to Saxis were flooded. The one shown above was far from the worst of them.
The
Saxis Wildlife Management Area is mainly marsh and is not conducive to
exploration by car. The rains in this area were much lighter than at Chincoteague,
but the winds were still quite strong. I was not about to start exploring
it on foot. I did drive down a road leading to a boat ramp and it was interesting
to observe the habitat. Belted kingfisher and great blue heron were the
best bird sightings in the area.
The strength of the rain picked up again as I drove back towards the Chincoteague Island. I pulled off the road at a little area on the causeway and watched some willets and least sandpipers. A tricolored heron was also there.
The street to my motel was no longer blocked off when I returned to the motel, but now the power was out. I went for supper and then turned in early.
Your comments and
suggestions will be appreciated.
©
1996 Richard L. Becker
