Broadwater Bay Ecotours

06/18/2025

It’s nice to change things up every so often, so let’s talk about an amazing plant that grows right here on the island. Black Willow, a relative of Weeping Willow, is a wonder of modern medicine.

The bark of this plant contains a compound called Salicin. Salicin was discovered to have healing properties, and was converted first into salicylic acid, then into acetylsalicylic acid. Acetylsalicylic acid is the compound that we know as Aspirin, which many people use regularly. Nature is pretty neat and has some handy dandy properties to boot!

To learn what other plants call Assateague Home, visit: https://irma.nps.gov/NPSpecies/Search/SpeciesList

NPS Photo/K. Sloan

06/15/2025

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there!

One of the most famous examples of a rockstar dad in the wildlife world is found in seahorses, which are, in fact, fish! If you didn't know, we actually have one species of seahorse found both bayside and seaside: the lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus).

These tiny little critters only grow to be about 6-7 inches tall and are known for their courtship rituals, which involves a lot of dancing and clicking. They are monogamous and often mate for life!🥰

When it comes to going above and beyond as dads, the legends are true: male seahorses carry the babies! 🤯 The female seahorse lays her eggs in the male's brood pouch, and he fertilizes and incubates them until they hatch. This process takes a couple weeks, and then hundreds of tiny seahorses are released from the pouch at once. Wow... we salute you, dads!

📷Matthew Sullivan (Creative Commons 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

06/14/2025

06/12/2025

What created that weird circle in the sand?!

Horseshoe Crabs!

Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs use the beaches along the bayside of Assateague Island to mate and lay their eggs in the sand. The best time to watch this for yourself is to visit during high tide at night in May and June. Mating peaks during the full and new moon high tides. After laying their eggs in the sand, they sometimes create these circles as they crawl, finding their way back to the water.

An important reminder: If you see these “living fossils” walking to shore or buried in the sand on Assateague, let them be so that our population can flourish! Want to learn more about these cool creatures? Click here: https://www.fws.gov/species/atlantic-horseshoe-crab-limulus-polyphemus

NPS Photo/A. Garnand

10/28/2024

SHORE BIRDING IS GREAT!!!
37 DIFFERENT SPECIES
3500 TO 4000 BIRDS
WHAT A DAY!!!

09/09/2022

“Woah, that’s a really big cobweb”. If that’s what you’re thinking, you’re not alone. They are showing up all around the park and the surrounding communities. However, this web-like mass has nothing to do with a spider.

Meet the Fall Webworm (Hyphantria cunea). At first glance, this can be mistaken for a similar creature, the Tent Caterpillar. Once you get a glance up close, you will be able to distinguish the two. The adult moth can grow up to ¾” with white wings, sometimes having black spots. In it’s larval (caterpillar) stage, they can be 1” long with two different color patterns: black head with yellowish bodies, or red head with a brown body.

Webworms spawn two generations annually. The first will come around in May, and the latter will show itself between August and October. This second generation is much larger and more evident. We are in prime time for that second generation.

They are not picky eaters at all. They have been found on over 100 species of host trees, anything from oaks and hickories to apples and mulberries. In the Virginia district, Rangers have spotted them primarily on cherry trees.

It looks like they are causing way more damage than they do. Their webs will consume many leaves and terminal buds, but only in relation to their size. It typically is not enough to impact the tree long term, and predators swing into action before they can grow too large.

At this point, most people ask what they can do if they see one. Well, we have established that biologically, these webworms are harmless, just existing as part of the ecosystem. On the flipside, they can be an eyesore. If you find a web mass growing on a tree at home, you can simply prune off the affected branch.

This specimen was spotted by Ranger Katie down in the Virginia District, on the Wildlife Loop. She likes to think of it as helping us wave goodbye to summer.

Image description: A large, webbed mass is engulfing a tree branch. Inside are small caterpillars crawling and feeding on leaves.
Text: K. Sloan
Photo: NPS Photo/K. Sloan

08/30/2022

After a two-year hiatus, the Eastern Shore Laboratory's Marine Life Day public open house is back! We hope that you'll join us.

Pre-register online at www.vims.edu/mld.

08/27/2022

04/27/2022