Blog
Spring is a lovely time to have Chincoteague to yourself. The foals begin arriving in the pasture, the warblers pour through the Woodland Trail in waves, the mosquitoes have not yet hatched, and the island is quiet and unhurried before the season beg… Read more
As the summer crowds head home with the school buses, the island settles into its finest season. The water stays warm well into September, the birds pour down the Atlantic Flyway, and you can find a parking space anywhere you like. Better still, our … Read more
February looks like January for about two weeks, and then it doesn’t. Winter still holds the island — the swans are on Swan Cove, the Snow Geese are still commuting to the mainland fields, and the ducks are still rafted on the impoundments. But this … Read more
By January, winter has fully settled in on Chincoteague. The comings and goings of fall are over, and the birds that remain have chosen this island as their winter home. This is the most static month of the year on the refuge — nothing is arriving, n… Read more
As the calendar tip-toes into November, the refuge becomes rich in winter arrivals, resident returnees, quieter trails, and golden-hour marsh light. The crisp air and fewer visitors make it a wonderful time for walking the trails, stopping when a bir… Read more
September is a great month on the birding calendar here. Three migrations are stacked on top of each other at once. Shorebirds are moving through in real numbers now. Raptors funnel down the Delmarva Peninsula and stall out right here rather than cro… Read more
People ask us this at the front desk more than just about anything else. Horses aren't native to North America, so whatever's out on that marsh today arrived somehow in the last four hundred years and then got loose. How they managed it is the part n… Read more
The last week of August is one of the best times to visit Chincoteague Island: peak-summer crowds have thinned, ocean water is at its warmest, the wild ponies are here year-round, and rates come down from peak-summer pricing. Quick facts: Chincoteagu… Read more
Everyone who's stayed at the Refuge Inn has heard some version of Donald Leonard's story: the boy who couldn't be found unless you looked for the ponies, the dreamer who built an iconic motel with a little luck and a lot of help from his family and f… Read more
August doesn't get the same hype as the big spring and fall pushes, but that works in your favor. The light is gorgeous in the early morning, and the refuge is busy in a different way. The marsh steadily turns into a shorebird buffet as the month pro… Read more