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By Wilma Young

Welcome to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. Today you will be walking the Woodland Trail. We can’t know in advance all the things you will encounter on the trail, but we can give you an idea of the possibilities and probabilities.

Before you begin your walk, just as your car turns off the Beach Road onto the Woodland Trail, there’s a landmark on your right. Just a few slabs of concrete in a tangle of greenbrier vines. This is all that’s left of an old life saving station- probably a portion of the cistern. In the previous century there were four of these stations on Assateague Island. Two of them were here on the Virginia’s end of the island.

Imagine now that it’s the eighteenth century. You would have been near the shore line, hearing the surf; instead of which, you are hearing the sounds of the pine forest, nearly a mile from the beach. Barrier islands grow and change rapidly. They are always in transition.

The Assateague Beach Life Saving Station was established in 1875. It wouldn’t have been manned in summer weather, but between August and June, a keeper and six or eight men were on duty twenty-four hours a day. These surf-men got room, board and twenty dollars a month in pay. You won’t, be surprised to learn that they trapped Muskrats to supplement their incomes. They not only endangered their lives rescuing crew men and saving the ships, they also did beach patrol, returning lost property they found, giving assistance to hunters and fishermen who had gotten lost on the island and providing them with food and lodging. In times of storm and high tides, they evacuated families who lived on the islands.

As you walk through the forest, you may encounter a Delmarva Peninsula Fox Squirrel. You will recognize him by his unusual size. He’s the largest of the tree squirrels, weighing up to three pounds and tail included, may be up to thirty inches long. His coat varies in color from light grey with silver chest and belly, to nearly black. Smaller species of squirrel seem to dash recklessly through the tree tops, traveling on tiny branches and launching themselves through the air, catching a nearby limb as if they were trapeze artists. The Delmarva’s are more cautious in the tree tops, running on larger limbs more suited to supporting their weight. They spend a great deal of time on the ground.  Now and then a grey squirrel may share habitat with the Delmarva’s. We try to discourage this by transporting them to more suitable areas as it is the Delmarva’s who are endangered.

Once, the Delmarva’s were common on the Delmarva Peninsula, ranging into New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They depended on the Loblolly Pine for shelter as well as for the supply of seeds from the cones of the pine. Clear cutting of the forest denied them the advantages of food, shelter and space and moved them into the endangered category.

 By the 1920′s, they were extinct in all states except Maryland. Between 1968 and 1971, thirty of these squirrels were moved here to Chincoteague Refuge where they were released near the lighthouse and here on the woodland trail. They seem to be prospering here as they have not only loblolly seeds to eat but also acorns, and buds and flowers of trees.

The Maritime Forest provides loblollies for the squirrels to make nests in and the occasional Hardwood Hollow Trees for dens. The refuge provides nesting boxes as well.

 Odd name: Loblolly. One researcher writes that the early settlers were impressed with the ever presence of this versatile pine and named it for the common and ever-present breakfast food of England- their porridge known as Loblolly. Lob is of the Middle English origin and meant literally “thick” and Lolly was a dialect word for broth. Loblolly also means “a mud puddle” which doesn’t say much for the porridge- but perhaps we can justify it for the loblolly tree because this pine does like to have its roots in a damp environment.

As the Loblolly grows taller, the lower branches fall which gives the forest a relatively clear understory with not too many places for predators to hide.

The Great Horned Owl may silently sweep down in the dusk and pick off a young squirrel. Owls have special soft downy feathers at wings’ edge which eliminate the flapping noise most birds produce in flight. These owls haven’t large ears- just tufts of feathers on either side of the top of the head. Small creatures must be especially vigilant because the owls have eyes positioned on the front of their heads giving them better binocular vision than birds with eyes on the sides of their heads. The owl doesn’t have moonlight or starlight every night that he’s hungry, so he listens too for rodents rustling in the leaves. This is the owl whose haunting mournful call is often used on movie sound tracks.

The understory isn’t completely clear. Greenbrier is a thorny tangled vine with heart shaped leaves that gives the squirrel a hiding place on the ground and would trip the unwary human and would certainly impede other predators.

Trumpet Creepers and grape vines add to the tangle in some parts of the forest. Poison Ivy achieves spectacular growth in this environment with the stems reaching the thickness of your forearm and climbing to the tops of the pine trees. The fruit, twigs and berries provide excellent and abundant food supply for white tailed deer, sikas, possums, ponies and at least fifty species of birds.

If you see a small heart-shaped face peering at you from a thicket, it’s our Sika. You’ve heard about them if you’ve been on the refuge more than ten minutes. These are the small Asian elk with the distinctive white patch on their rumps – their trademark- the powder-puff behind. A few Sikas, probably less than twenty were released on the island in the 1920’s.  Present population estimate is somewhat less than a thousand.

When you reach the pony overlook you will be facing an area of marsh with groundsel and marsh elder, flea bane and seaside goldenrod in season.

In the distance is the red and white 142 foot horizontally striped lighthouse about a mile and a half away. This is surprising when you remember that when the original 45 foot lighthouse was built in 1833 it stood near open sea. Toms Hook, the curved sandy stretch of the island has developed since the mid 1800′s.

To both right and left are small stands of Loblollies on slightly raised land areas. Often there are ponies loafing under the trees.

Where did these shaggy ponies come from?  You may take your choice of fact or legend. The early islanders let their live stock graze on the Barrier islands. These may be the descendents of those horses who have adapted to the harsh environment. Or you may choose to accept the stories of horses shipwrecked in the 1700’s – which swam to the safety of the islands and established a colony here. If you have a romantic streak, you may blend fact and legend. In any case, enjoy these hardy little island dwellers.

After leaving the pony overlook, you’ll come into an area where pools of fresh water stand near the trail. Here the vines and small shrubs are thicker and here is where you’ll find a large amount of bird activity.

You may be thinking that if it’s damp there’s a chance of snakes and amphibians- and you’d be correct. But don’t panic. As far as we know there are no venomous reptiles in residence here. We do have Hognose Snakes. This fellow gets his name from an up-turned snout. If threatened, he puts on a brave front; hisses, puffs out his head, and if this fails to make you back off, he will lie on his back, tongue hanging out of his gaping mouth and play dead.

The Black Rat Snake grows quite long; possibly 5 feet and is an excellent tree climber – often living in tree cavities. He is not venomous either.

Here near the fresh water ponds and brackish marshes you may find southern leopard frogs. They come in green or brown.

 The other amphibians you’re likely to encounter on the refuge are Fowler’s toads. They appear on sandy trails or around buildings. Their skin is dry, usually in shades of brown or grey with pale chests.

There’s a slight possibility of meeting a Red-Backed Salamander. They are only two and to five inches long. Not threatening creatures.

As this site is on the Atlantic flyway, we have a great many species of birds who visit us. We can’t begin to guess which ones you’ll encounter…it’s all up to season, weather and chance. Over Three hundred have been identified on this refuge, and twenty that have been seen only once or twice. Would you believe that the common house sparrow, The English Sparrow… falls into the Latter category, having been seen here only rarely. Oddly enough they are commonly seen on the next island to our west on Chincoteague Island.

 Warblers are frequent visitors to our refuge, some of them like the Pine Warbler and Prairie Warbler nesting here. Yellow Rumped Warblers were formerly called Myrtle Warblers because of their preference for the berries of the wax Myrtle bushes. Those berries are wax like and few other birds are able to digest them.

Red Eyed and White Eyed Vireos both nest here. These little fellows hide in myrtle thickets which provide excellent camouflage. During breeding season they sing throughout the day.

Bald eagles may be seen soaring over the refuge. . They aren’t bald you know, they have white feathers on their heads.  Turkey Vultures, often seen wheeling in the neighborhood really is bald.

If you don’t see woodpeckers along this trail, you’ll probably hear them. They peck at trees to locate food and also do a good bit of hammering in lieu of song, to impress their mates and also establish territory. Downy, hairy and Red Bellied Woodpeckers are seen here as well as Pileated Woodpeckers. The northern flicker is common as well. The Red Woodpecker is an occasional visitor.

You may hear a great scuffling in the leaves, in which case, look for the Rufous-sided Towhee leaves; he is, as his name suggests, rusty reddish brown. He has named himself, shouting “see tow See” although some listeners say he is asking you to “drink your tea”.

You’ll not be surprised to see Starlings here. From a flock of one hundred birds released in Manhattan in 1890, they have spread across the continent.  Their consumption of insects may be the one favorable characteristic of this bird.

You see, we’re nowhere near covering the three hundred plus species you might encounter: Owls, Buntings, Cardinals, Chickadees, Juncos… the list goes on…but walk the trail with alert.

Wilma Young served as a senior volunteer at several national parks, coming to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge three times. 

Her last stay at the Chincoteague refuge was just before her 80th birthday in 1997-98. On this third stay she served as an environmental education teacher for the Chincoteague Natural History Association. As a volunteer in her first two summers, along with the various duties she was given, Wilma found time to write. She spent hours reading about Chincoteague history and conducting research in the libraries. Some of her articles later found their way onto the Refuge web site, some were published in our local newspapers and some were used as trail guides for other volunteers. Today, at the age of 90, Wilma is as intensely interested in protecting our planet as she ever was. She can talk non-stop about the ways we humans have found to cause harm to our environment. She is passionate about things most people never take the time to learn. Years ago she wrote a story for her granddaughter, explaining why she often wasn’t home. “Every living thing depends on other living things and although we know a lot of the connections, we don’t know them all.” In explaining her work with the Refuge to her granddaughter, Wilma wrote, “…I help report the numbers on the goose collars…I answer questions our visitors have about all the wild creatures…I notify the biologists of any reports of unusual sightings of sick animal or creatures caught in nets…sometimes I pick up trash on the beach…I wander the trails, answering more questions…and best of all I look up a lot of stuff then write about it to help people understand how much we all need each other.” It is hard to find the words to describe this caring, kind and concerned grandmother. But her precise and accurate writing speaks for itself. We are pleased to publish her work in Wild Pony Tales. – Robert Boswell, publisher. 

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Questions about the tours can be directed to the visitor center through email at FW5RW_CNWR@fws.gov and by phone 757-336-6122. Other information can be found on at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/chinco.

Admission for the tours is $12.00 for adults and $6.00 for children 12 and under. Tickets are sold at the Bateman Educational Center and visitors should board the bus at that location.

The following article was written by a student staff member, her assignment after riding out on the bus in the fall of 2010.

By Brianna Bowden

First Posted on January 21, 2010 by Admin

I have lived near Assateague Island in Virginia all my life. Most of my ancestors were born nearby, on Chincoteague Island and many have lived there for years. I have visited them often over the years and have been to the beautiful Assateague Beach many times.

But today I got to see a part of Assateague that was new to me. I got to ride 7 ½ miles into a wilderness seen only by a few of the 1.5 million visitors that come each year not only from all over the U.S. , but all over the world.

Along the way, as part of a group on a small tour bus that leaves from the information center, I learned a lot. The driver, Mrs. Joanne Lapole, carefully told us about everything that crossed our path including a snapping turtle, a Sika elk, the glossy ibis, which is a long-beaked wading bird; the nesting boxes of the endangered Delmarva Fox Squirrel, Canada geese and the snowy egret. She didn’t mind stopping, or even backing up, for us to get a clearer view.

Our guide told us about the history of the Chincoteague Lighthouse which is a favorite stop for visitors. She said that at the bottom of the lighthouse there was a village, the families that lived there had to change the candles that provided lights for the ships and boats that came along.

Joanne has two other jobs. She is a county school bus driver and is a teaching assistant at Kegotank Elementary here in Accomack County. “I love my job as a tour guide,” she said, and my other jobs.”She is the mother of two daughters, 21 and 24.

The wildlife tours are not without some amusing incidents. “When grown men ask me to stop the bus so they can go to the bathroom,” she said, they had better hope she stops near a large tree because, other than the woods, there are no bathrooms. All of the birds and animals we saw share this wilderness in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, with some pretty famous four-legged residents, the Chincoteague ponies. And boy did we see ponies.

There were newborn foals, some sleeping and others bouncing along after their mothers. The older ponies were grazing and being themselves, only a few feet from us. Passengers are not allowed to get off the bus, but the bus has large windows that give everyone a great view. We learned from Joanne that the pony mares live in bands of six or seven that belong to a stallion who keeps a watchful eye on them.

One colt came right up to us trying to figure out who these intruders were, looking at him through the bus windows. As we took photos he seemed to say, “Hey, what are you guys doing out here?”
This colt and most of the others don’t have much time left to enjoy their freedom in the wilderness where they were born. On July 22 he will be rounded up with all the others and run into a large corral, where the next morning they will be escorted by the world famous Salt Water Cowboys along the sand of the Atlantic Ocean in front of several thousand anxious spectators. (See story, the Beach Run, on the story menu.)

They will be moved into the corral on Beach Road to await the big day when they will swim Assateague Channel in front 30 to 40 thousand people. The foals, except for a few holdbacks and buybacks, will never return to their homeland, but will move on to new homes after being sold one by one to the highest bidders at the auction on July 26. Money from the auction, with some ponies going for $7,000 or more, supports the Chincoteague Fire Company.

The ponies of the Virginia northern herd, not seen by most visitors to the islands, share a vast wilderness with other wildlife, including snapping turtles, Sika elk, white tailed deer, wild turkeys, the Delmarva Fox Squirrel and birds of all kinds.   On our way back we got to see a lone elk just springing across the shallow water of Chincoteague Bay near the shoreline. He went a long way before finally coming onto land just a little ways from us. There is just something about seeing an animal completely free in their natural surroundings that is hard to describe. These little elk are hunted, though, in the fall to keep their population under control.

This was my first time on a tour, which is sponsored by the Chincoteague Natural History Association. This is a large organization mostly of volunteers that supports the educational goals of the agencies that run the national park.

I had a great time with my friends on this trip, which took two hours, but it was not just a pleasure outing. I am one of the newest writers for this on-line magazine. So along with me were two other writers, Harley Gooldrup and Misty Thornton, and Robert Boswell, the publisher of www.wildponytales.info and our journalism teacher. Harley is a rising 8^th grader at Nandua Middle School here in Accomack County on the Eastern Shore.  Misty and I are both students at Arcadia Middle School where she is going into the 8^th grade and I am going into 7^th.

For us it was a learning day, as Mr. Boswell calls it, with us taking notes and learning to use the cameras, especially the one with the 100-400 mm lens. As he tells us, we get to share what we see and hear with our viewers around the world. It is a good feeling to be able to do this, to tell people who may never come here, about this place so close to my home.

If there is one more thing I want to say, it would be that if you are coming to Chincoteague, take this inexpensive bus tour, only $10 for adults and $5.00 for children. (The prices are now $12 and $6.)  It is almost the only way you are likely to see the ponies up close in their natural, wild habitat. There are commercial boat tours that take visitors up to the shoreline where the ponies roam and sometimes you can see ponies from the southern herd up close, but not often. These tour buses are air conditioned, comfortable with big windows and the tour guides are the best.

Just remember, use the restroom before you board the bus, two hours can be a long time.

Since this story was written, the students mentioned including the writer have all moved on to high school. Misty Thornton, now in the 11^th grade, is a co-editor of the publication.

By Cyndel Brunell

Clop, clop, clop. The constant beat of a horse going through your mind while you wait anxiously for the ponies to come in. You look around for any little head or moving color that will tell you the northern herd of the Chincoteague ponies is headed for the corral. You over hear a radio they’re a mile out and you look down a long road. The action is coming your way. It is the spring roundup of the famous Chincoteague ponies.

The day started early for us. I got up with my nanny’s cats jumping on my bed. They are friendly but annoying. Then my Mom came and picked my brother, sister and me up and I went to the parking lot at Bullfeathers to wait for Mr. Boswell to get there. This is our regular meeting place when we are headed over to Assateague to gather material for our website, www.wildponytales.com. Mr. Boswell is my journalism teacher at Nandua Middle. For those viewers not from this area, we live on the mainland, about 20 miles south of Chincoteague.

After Mr. Boswell showed up we left to pick up Lizzy. This is Elizabeth Fread, a 9th grader at Nandua High who is our editor in chief. With Lizzy in the car on this very early Saturday we headed up to Royal Farms to get coffee and some breakfast to wake us up.

On the way to Assateague we talked about the day and how it would unfold. We started to check out our cell phones, cameras, cleared memory cards and made sure we had all our batteries and extra compact flash cards with us. We had a five mile walk coming up, out to the northern, most distant corral the ponies would be driven into. The smaller, southern herd of ponies had been brought into the holding pen on Beach Road Friday evening. But the northern herd is much more secluded, kept away from the public, far into the wilderness. No cars, bikes or scooters are allowed, except official Chincoteague Fire Company vehicles or pickups pulling horse trailers for the cowboys who ride in the roundup. These ponies can be seen by taking the tour bus from the information center and from boats that cruse Assateague shores, but there is no other way. Most of the million-plus yearly visitors to Assateague don’t even know these ponies exist until they make the swim during Pony Penning.

We had packed for the walk – bottles of water, extra warm clothing, snacks, and rain gear. The only thing we did not need to take on this cool Saturday was bug spray. In the heat of the summer to come, the mosquitoes, flies and ticks are quite plentiful.

We made sure we had not forgotten anything, got out and started the long walk. We were easily distracted by the littlest chirp and hoot. Right when we were about to enter the gate at the corral we saw a deer we had thought to be a fawn at the time, but it turned out to be a Sika elk so we got pictures of that.

On our way we saw a Delmarva fox squirrel, on the endangered list, one of the island’s inhabitants that the Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to bring back in bigger numbers. We saw birds and more deer.

I was tiring out and so was Lizzy. When we saw those trucks and trailers around the bend we got so excited we walked a little faster. We ran to the first truck and trailer. We looked at each one, guessing how many ponies each would hold. When we got to the cow tracks, or road grate that keeps the ponies from crossing, we greeted some of the Buyback Babes, a group of ladies from all over who put their money together to buy a pony each year at the auction that is put back into the herd. This group is the subject of an upcoming story for wildponytales. Next we sat down and ate some snacks.

Then we were told by an official that everyone would need to be behind the fence. That was not a rule last time but we still got great pictures and it was so amazing watching the ponies and cowboys come in. The foals ranged from what looked to be newborn to older ones, born since the July auction.

There was one stallion that was so pretty but he had an attitude problem. He was going up to other stallions and biting and kicking and looking as if he owned the place. The stallions are used to having their “bands” of mares all to themselves in the wild of the island, but once in the corral it is a different matter. The bands become mixed together and the stallions don’t like it a bit. Once in the corral, the ponies got hay to eat and waited for their vet to arrive.

This is my first time at a roundup. I am a horse lover, former horse owner and hopefully a future horse owner. I sketch them, read about them, write about them and dream about them. I can easily understand why the cowboys are so drawn to the work they do. After seeing them up close, I realize they have a much harder job than I thought and the ponies are lucky to have these men on horseback looking out for them. As Mr. Boswell so often tells us, there are a thousand stories to tell about these world famous cowboys who come from all over to ride together over the rough territory that is the Assateague home of the Chincoteague ponies.

It is so exciting to be so close to the ponies that are seen around the world on television, in magazines and newspapers, about which books have been written, with “Misty” being the most famous of all.

It is getting kind of late and the nor’easter is blowing in. I put my rain gear over the equipment so it wouldn’t get ruined and we begin to pack up.

All the cowboys are cooling out their horses by walking them around and lots of the trucks and trailers have left. It is drizzling rain, time to head back. After one truck passes us, Mr. Walter Marks, a cowboy for 26 years and the father of one of my classmates, Tyler, offers us a ride. He doesn’t have to ask twice and had it not been for him we would have been caught in a down pour.

Soon we were back in Mr. Boswell’s car with him insisting we find a restroom and get something to eat. Lizzy and I won this debate though, and got him to take us the southern herd holding pen where Dr. Charlie Cameron is hard at work. One by one, the ponies are run into a chute where he gives them a squirt of worm medicine and takes blood through a needle for testing. The wild ponies do not welcome Dr. Cameron. They rear up, knocking into the wooden stanchion; they kick and try to take a nip out of his assistants who try to settle them down. It is a slow process and by mid afternoon, Dr. Cameron still has the northern herd of 100 plus ponies waiting for him.

We decide to head for the mainland. Back at Mr. Boswell’s it is time for more work. Our CF cards are full so we transfer all our photos into laptops and make a backup.

Then it is back on the road to our own homes. We are all tired, but we had an exciting day that I will never forget.

The writer is a 9th grade student who has since moved from Accomack County. She was associate editor of the website, www.wildponytales.info.