A Weekend Away in Chincoteague

As my regular blog readers know, it's been a rough year. Mum finished chemo (for now) a couple weeks ago and then had a PET scan to evaluate her progress. So we decided to take a long weekend away to distract ourselves—while we awaited the results—and to try traveling on a small, manageable scale. So we visited the islands of Chincoteague and Assateague, just a three-hour drive away. Although Mum's energy and stamina were still severely limited, we were able to do some walks and drives through the park and saw lots of beautiful ponies, birds, and other wildlife. Success!

Most folks who have heard of Chincoteague probably first heard of it as a kid, reading Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry. That was certainly my first exposure, from the same copy Dad had read as a kid too. Anyway, we stayed at Refuge Inn on Chincoteague Island, which is just outside of the combined Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge/Assateague National Seashore park (which, somewhat confusingly, are both on Assateague Island, just across a bridge). Refuge Inn boasts its own herd of six ponies, as well as a lovely marsh observation deck (from which I heard but couldn't get a good view of several Clapper Rails).

 

 Our first morning in the park, we started with the Lighthouse Trail, a quick 0.25 mi trail leading to the Assateauge Lighthouse, which is the most iconic landmark of the park.

  

Walking back towards the main road, we saw the most adorable little (~2 in) Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina).

The main road through the park, Beach Road, was lined with blooming Bristle Thistles (Cirsium horridulum).

 

And from the road itself there were beautiful views of both ponies and birds...

There were many of these spectacular Tricolored Herons (Egretta tricolor) in the park!

Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)

Great Egret (Ardea alba)

We walked a few of the trails, where I documented various plant species, and we saw a couple of Fowlers Toads (Anaxyrus fowleri).

 

 Off the Woodland Trail, there was a perfect pony overlook.

  

Although peak tourist season here is in July, for Pony Penning Day, early May was a perfect time to see all the young foals. 

 

It was pretty spectacular how you could look out at the horses...

And then shift your focus and see gorgeous egrets, glossy ibis, and other birds in the foreground.  

Now this might sound a little odd, but Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge is a "Squirrel Sanctuary" (as we read at the visitor's center). Specifically the Delmarva Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger cinereus) almost went extinct due to deforestation in the rest of Virginia and Maryland. But sometime around 1970, a small population was brought to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and has thrived. We enjoyed seeing them throughout the park (and—of course—calling out "squirrel!" each time).

Although they don't look dramatically different from the very common eastern gray squirrel,
these fox squirrels are more silvery, with larger bodies and longer tails.

 

If you keep driving through the park, you quickly reach the other side of the barrier island, which is home to the Assateague National Seashore. One of the most ubiquitous—and loud—inhabitants is the distinctive Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla).

I always enjoy looking at and photographing birds head on, because they look so goofy!

Mum had a whole conversation with one...

 

 

 

And we noticed it had this cute little way of throwing it's head back after a particular vocalization.

 

 

We sat for a while and watched the Willets and Sanderlings skittering back and forth along the waterline with the waves.
 

Willet (Tringa semipalmata)

Sanderling (Calidris alba), one of the most adorable shorebirds

And of course various other gulls sitting, walking, and soaring along the shore.

Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)

Juvenile gulls are notoriously difficult to identify.

Driving back from the seashore, we saw Dunlins, Terns, and various other birds in the Swan Cove Pool.

Dulin (Calidris alpina)

Terns were quite common throughout the park. I think they were mostly Forster's Terns
(Sterna forsteri), but terns are also rather challenging to identify.

Our last evening, Dad and I took an extra walk on the Marsh Trail around dusk, and I saw my first Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus)!

 

 Happily, we learned after the trip that the results from the PET scan were very good, all things considered. We are very thankful.

 

Barred Owl!

After YEARS of hearing the barred owls around my parents' house, I finally managed to photograph one! Silver lining of a dark, rainy, and sleepy day.

 

 

 

NIH Cuts, Priorities, and "We regret to inform you..."

This came as no surprise. The writing on the wall was perhaps more like a larger-than-life mural that couldn't be missed. But the email still felt like a gut punch.

"After 25 years of FIRST, we regret to inform you that the NIH IRACDA Program has been terminated, with our current funding set to end on August 31, 2025. Please see the e-mail below from NIH..."

And the forwarded email from NIH:  "I am writing to let you know that due to changes in NIH/HHS priorities, the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) program has been terminated." 

Let me explain. My current position at Emory is as a "postdoctoral research fellow" funded by the NIH (National Institutes of Health) through a program called IRACDA (Institutional Research and Career Development Award). The Emory program is called FIRST (Fellowship in Research and Science Teaching), which has the benefit of being a slightly less opaque name. [Edit: Neither the NIH IRACDA website nor the Emory FIRST website exist anymore, but if you're interested, the internet archive is wonderful and you can read about the nationwide IRACDA program and the Emory FIRST program at these links.] Essentially, the NIH funds Emory to run a program that recruits and trains (diverse) scientists who have recently earned their PhDs to do cutting edge research and also teach at a local "Minority Serving Institution". In my case, I had the privilege of teaching at Spelman College, which is the country's oldest historically black college for women. But that no longer aligns with the NIH's "priorities".

Sure, I'm mad for me. It's scary to not know whether you'll have a job in five months, or whether any of the positions you would have considered applying for will be open or even still exist. But I'm madder for all my friends in the program at Emory and at IRACDA programs around the country. And I'm even madder for the effect that this disruption is having on science and medicine.

This has recently become personal for me in a way that I never imagined. My mother was diagnosed in January with a very rare form of cancer called mesothelioma. The Mayo Clinic website says that mesothelioma "is a fast-growing and deadly form of cancer. There are mesothelioma treatments. But for many people with mesothelioma, there is no cure." She is currently in the middle of a course of combined chemo and immunotherapy (chemunotherapy, as she calls it), and thankfully, it seems to be helping for now. The immunotherapy (Keytruda) was only approved for mesothelioma this past September, after about 10 years of being used to treat other more common cancers. We are so thankful for innovation in cancer treatment using basic science that was funded in large part by the NIH for decades. We are also hoping for continued innovation that will eventually find a cure, and the NIH has been funding multiple promising avenues of research (including mRNA vaccines!). Science saves lives. And sometimes in ways we can't imagine from the titles. (Did you know that GLP-1 medications like Ozempic are based on research on Gila monster venom?)

 

In DC last month attending the #StandUpForScience rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

 

 

I don't have enough hubris to think my own research is poised to change the world dramatically. But scientific progress is incremental, and the big flashy advances are built on thousands of small discoveries and refinements. These decisions to defund science and scientists ignore this reality and are incredibly short sighted.  It's not just my program, it's the firings at the National Institutes of Health and the rest of Health and Human Services (CDC, FDA, etc.), the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Forest Service, and so much more.

The other side of my sign says "Science is for Everyone", which I chose for its double meaning: I believe that we benefit from diversity in science, and I support DEI efforts, but also, science benefits everyone.

 

 

I'm saddened that our society has lost faith in and appreciation for science. I have a wonderful and supportive boss who is going to try to keep me employed after our NIH funding runs out. I have savings. I will apply for other jobs. But these are sad days not only for science and scientists, but for everyone (even those who don't know it yet). If you can, please advocate for science funding: call your representatives, show up to protests, and perhaps most importantly, talk to people. Make sure folks know what's happening and if they don't care already, maybe try to help them connect a few dots. Hopefully this will be a short-term tragedy that we can recover from soon. But some days optimism is hard.