#35 VA Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge - Woodland Trail: 2 mi
I wanted to express just how big these Delmarva Fox Squirrels are in the maritime forests of Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. They were fat. They were 4 pounds easily. They hung in a gang of four. They chased me. Excuse my sketch if it seems cartoonish, but this big one had a reddish belly, stained from mucking in tannin mud. If there are any readers of this blog who also enjoy the Doc Martin series, you may recall the episode about the ranger who lives out on the moors and his giant imaginary squirrel, Anthony. The writer of that episode must have been to Chincoteague.
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| Towards an overlook |
I've been around Delmarva Fox Squirrels before on the Eastern Shore but this gang of four (maybe a mom and three young?) took control of the Woodland Trail just when it splits to make a two-mile loop. I had a clue to expect them when I met a fellow hiker coming the opposite direction. I saw his binoculars and asked him what birds were out this early afternoon. "I don't know about this side of the trail but I'm going to check out the other side now." Funny, I thought. Why is he doubling back on a loop trail? Then hilarity ensured.
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| Eastern Candle Wax Lichen on Loblolly |
I love trees and I love even more forest communities that adapt to certain conditions, so a nice stroll through a maritime forest on the Atlantic Coast is a beautiful reason to slow down and take a close look at trees and their lichen assemblies. While composing a photo of Eastern Candle Wax Lichen on a Loblolly Pine I got yelled at the first time. Big ole' Momma DFS was across the trail scolding me for going near her yummy lichen garden. She had a mouthful of the stuff. So I moved on.
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| Black Willow, Salix nigra |
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| Amanita sp. |
Just a few yards up the trail was a garden of large Amanita mushrooms growing in pine needle duff. I stepped gingerly off the trail to snap a picture of two especially large ones. Two giant steps back to the trail and there she was - Momma DFS. Clearly these were her mushrooms since a very fat grey DFS was above me munching on an enormous chunk of white mushroom flesh. She sat in the middle of the trail up on her hind legs making herself look big as a mean tomcat. I got it. Her mushrooms. Keep moving.
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| Water Oak, Quercus nigra |
I walked a few yards more to a section where Water Oaks stood like sentries on the trail across from each other. I snapped their picture and picked up a few stubby little acorns to examine. She followed me up the trail. Let me guess...her acorns. She scolded again and I dropped the nuts and moved on.
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| Water Oak, opposite sentry |
She followed me out to the start of a boardwalk with her large offspring behind and above her. They were very skittish, moving through the tree leaves and pine needles, and scrambling along limbs as they followed to learn the art of human shaming. She came straight up the path, mid-trail, scolding me to keep going. I went out to the overlook where, during pony round up season in July, the island's wild herd is gathered on these marsh grass pastures for their annual pony penning. Eight wild ponies were working their way across the marsh so I sat and watched a while.
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| Chincoteague Wild Ponies |
Guess who was waiting for me to return to the path? There she was sitting on the last plank of the boardwalk, red-stained belly and loud mouth. I decided to make a run for it and jogged loudly on the wooden deck. She took of and ran back down the trail with her fat young'uns above her in the trees. She ran left, I ran right. I could hear her scolding loudly through the woods as I slowed to a walk so I kept up my pace until well out of earshot. The trail winds around the edge of the marsh and soon intersects with a side trail that leads to Tom's Cove and an excellent distance view of Wallops Island (NASA). This time I shared the trail with a young Great Blue Heron who seemed unfazed at my joining him for late lunch. I sat on a bench of sand, snacked and drank some water, and watched him hunt for Fiddler Crabs and minnows.
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Dwarf Saltwort, Salicornia bigelovii |
I admired the beds of Saltwort but admittedly checked over my shoulder before I snapped a fleshy stem off to give it a squeeze. The oils from this salt-tolerant plant have been used in cooking for thousands of years and some cooks even today prefer its safflower oil flavor for frying shellfish and fish. The wild ponies love it and in the days of turning out livestock to graze on the marshes it was a favorite of cattle as well. I popped it into my mouth. She didn't see that did she? The squirrel? Did she see me eat that?
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| Maritime forest |
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| Forested hummocks atop old dunes |
On my way out to complete the Woodland Trail I met up with a birder and his wife. He was adjusting a camera lens and she was giggling. "We got chased by a giant squirrel!" she laughed. He laughed with her. "I almost dropped my camera as we high-tailed it through the section just after the boardwalk overlook!" (They had been coming around the loop opposite to the direction I walked it) I shared my experience of the fierce red-bellied mom and we all laughed. "But she's a great mother," said the woman. "Guarding all the food, ALL the food, for her giant babies!"
Notes:
Delmarva Fox Squirrel are a species of concern, suffering drastic declines in populations when much of the Eastern Shore was logged over for cedar, oak, pine, and cypress. Their coats are quite variable and can be red, black, or white, though they tend towards grey. In some protected landscapes, populations are stable and may be recovering, thus they have been de-listed from the Endangered Species List (USFWS)
P.S. When I loaded my shots of the red-bellied female DFS into my iNaturalist observations, it identified her as an American Robin. LOL!
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