And, a bit of the wildlife loop

We were finally able to walk out on Assateague. For a change, we tried out the Assateague Wildlife Loop. Some of the other areas were closed due to hunting. This loop is about 3 miles, ranging around a huge, shallow, fresh-water pond designed to support wildfowl migrations. This time of year it is just starting to get busy. Later on there is a wildfowl week, when migrations are in full swing. Here are a few sights from today.

I'm not sure why, but there were a lot of large insects around, like this grasshopper. It seemed a bit cool for them to be so energetic, but grasshoppers hopped, crickets jumped, and dragon flies flitted around.

The egrets seemed kind of jumpy, flying from place to place

just to go fishing all over again.

There was even a cast of vultures. Yep, "cast" is one of the collective names for vultures. It is used in the same way as "murder" of crows.