Oh man Al, I am so jealous I want to see these guys BAD. lol. Glad you got to see and photograph them. You did will with the back lighting. The chestnut in image 10 looks very pregnant.
Pat
Hi all,
Just before all the Pandemic Chaos hit my family took a mini wildlife trip between Christmas and New Years, spending New Years Eve on Chincoteague Island, Va. We needed some R &R and I have always wanted to photo the wild Ponies theres. We had a few rainy days and no luck but the last 2 days we were successful... The ponies were out in the Marsh and Backlit pretty harshly ... challenging to Photograph, but we did okay with what we had for conditions. I will definitely return there.
A few pics...
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al
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Al Sabetta
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I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
Oh man Al, I am so jealous I want to see these guys BAD. lol. Glad you got to see and photograph them. You did will with the back lighting. The chestnut in image 10 looks very pregnant.
Pat
Your discus are talking to you....are you listening
Thanks Pat.Id highly recommend a trip. I thought alot of them looked pregnant too, but while there I learned that its because of the salt marsh grass that is their main diet. It Bloats them up a bit... once on a standard diet they revert to normal.
al
AquaticSuppliers.comFoods your Discus will Love!!!
>>>>>I am a science guy.. show me the science minus the BS
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
Great pics Al. We call wild horses brumby's in Australia...not sure why TBH, lol. Thanks for sharing your R&R with us
Those are very cool. This is the first I heard about the wild pony's in that area.
These photos reminded me of the herds of wilds that I would see roaming the hills of Nevada. Nevada's wild horse population is about 43,000 horses. That's 60 percent of all the wild horses roaming the West — almost three and one-half times the 12,800 equids the Bureau of Land Management says that Nevada's land can sustain. For a Discus that would be a disturbing 3.5 fish per gallon. Oh, the horrors of it all.
Thanks Danny. I had a look at Brumbys in Australia, looks like they are a real problem in some areas. Fragile eco-systems are being over run...
Thanks Brian, theres actually a few populations of wild ponies along the Eastern seaboard...some other ones on my future to do list...
Cumberland Island, Georgia
sabel Island Park, Nova Scotia
outer banks in North Carolina
Its sad that some areas these wild horses are just too many for the habitat to carry.. theres no real natural predators in significant enoughnumbers to help control population which doesn"t help
and is a
The herds of horses on Chincoteague,VA and neighboring Assateague Island, MD are both managed herds.. The Chincoteague herd is managed by Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company https://www.chincoteague.com/pony_swim_guide.html and is a huge crowd draw,,, The Assateague Island, MD population is managed by maryland and the state run campground is a great place to see them... I visited both sites and really want tio camp there at assateague.
Its interesting to note that the two populations are managed very differently.. The Chincoteague population is rounded up yearly and some are auctioned off to benefit the town, the Assateague population is controlled by birth control when the populations get high...https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/ne...and/485081002/
al
AquaticSuppliers.comFoods your Discus will Love!!!
>>>>>I am a science guy.. show me the science minus the BS
Al Sabetta
Simplydiscus LLC Owner
Aquaticsuppliers.com
I take Pics.. click here for my Flickr images
Al, Tom and I have been to Cumberland Island, Georgia. It is a super sweet place. You take a ferry over and then walk or can rent a bike. Beside the wild horses there is a totally natural untouched beach and the ruins of old plantations. I wonder if I could find the pics from that trip. It was before photography was a passion.
Pat
Your discus are talking to you....are you listening