The Delmarva Peninsula Fox Squirrel is an endangered species that nearly went extinct a few years ago. Careful conservation, including a supply of nesting boxes, has brought these rare rodents back from the edge; there are now about 100 of them on the islands. We were fortunate enough to glimpse a couple of them on Assateague. They are a blue-gray color with white under fur and have very large, bushy, tails.
The best known residents of Assateague are the "Chincoteague Ponies" made famous by a book Misty of Chincoteague. These horses run wild on Assateague most of the year. They are rounded up in July and some of the young are separated out to swim across the water that separates Assateague from Chincoteague. At Chincoteague, they are auctioned off with the proceeds used to support the volunteer fire department.
We found two herds of ponies a short distance apart. In the picture above, there are two Cattle Egrets riding on the backs of the ponies (see close-up on right).
Spiders seemed to be unusually abundant on Assateague. The web of one glistened in the morning sun while another spider was sharply silhouetted against the sky.
Several species of deer inhabit Assateague, including this White-tailed Deer that came trotting by us.