The previous two posts ventured through two of the ecosystems of Cumberland Island National Seashore—Live Oak forest and sand dunes. Another large area of the island are salt marshes where fresh and salt water mix. In one marsh was a notable resident of the island—feral horses.
At low tide, the mud of the salt marsh is literally crawling with fiddler crabs. How did they get such a name? The males wave their large claw to attract females. Apparently, it looks like playing a fiddle.
Fiddler crab
The walk along the wide sandy beach at low tide held lots of gulls, skimmers, oystercatchers and plovers dodging the surf. I spotted a large black duck that I later identified as a new bird to add to my life list—a Black Scoter.
Black Scoter
But then up near the high tide line, it looked like some large birds resting. As I walked up, I realized there were several Laughing Gulls. But they were in very bad shape, dying. Likely victims of bird flu, so I kept my distance. Also, many jelly fish had been left behind as the tide ebbed.
Further up the beach, several vultures were feeding and as I walked up, a carcass of deer was hollowed out. As I got ready to head back up the dunes, a baby shark scythed in the seaweed.
Enough of that part of the circle of life. Let’s look at more of the feral horses.
Legend holds these were left behind by 16th century Spanish explorers, but recent DNA studies show they were more likely from three centuries later abandoned at the enslaved cotton plantations and then from the Carnegie family’s beach homes that are now ruins in the park.
After later generations of the Carnegies could not afford life on the island, they donated the land to the Park Service, which eventually acquired most of the entire island and now is a refuge on the Atlantic coast. The horses are not managed, and simply try to survive by grazing on the limited vegetation. As you can see, they are thin, but are the largest herd of unmanaged feral horses on the Atlantic coast.
