These guys have some very long eyelashes (eat your heart out Maybelline girls). The long lashes developed because of the blowing sand. Just as camels have these long lashes as well.The most disturbing thing about these horses are the humans that visit them. We are not supposed to get close to them and pet them or feed them. Even if it's the grasses they feed on. They can and have been know to "defend" their space by rearing up and kicking. Signs are posted everywhere and with warnings of fines. But still while I was there, people were coming up to them and getting within their personal space. What is it about "wild" do these people not seem to understand. Certainly they have disregard for nature as well as the law.
Enough about the goofy humans. I did manage to see more horses this time around on the island then ever before. I think around 25 different horses were in view on my short excursion. Oh there were other animals coming out to feed as well.
Take this rabbit (actually don't) for example. It was foraging around the base of these thick bushes looking for some new green growth to feed on. Good luck rabbit. He/She stayed in this one spot until all the people and cars disappeared from sight, including me. I came back no more than 10 minutes later and it was gone.
Now this gull can read. It was only standing after all....There were plenty of these flying around , getting annoyed at me for intruding on it's territory or for just not having any boardwalk fries.
And this guys was just so annoyed with me He kept yelling and fly around me. Guess he thought I was after his horde of female cardinals that were very well hidden in the brush. Wow, like ease up dude! He would not let me get any closer that this and i didn't have a 1000mm lens either. Would be nice though.
Now, dunes are created by the wind, sand and, other things like plants and fallen branches for example. A grass tuft grows in the sand. The wind blows remove the sand from in front and deposits it at the back Some of these can get very large. I've seen, in the past, 20 feet high or so. But they are very fragile and one should not walk on them. The photo above has these little pieces of debris on top of these miniature dunes. Very cool to look at. You can tell which side the wind was on. But in this instance the wind wasn't strong enough to move that little tiny piece of wood on top nor the sand under it, but was strong enough to remove the sand around it.These photos and more are on my zenfolio website, under Assateague Island, listed to the right of this post
Until next time, Peace!
B
