MegaPixel Mike, Berlin, MD (2026)

03/29/2026

Whoa! How did a month go by already? I hope everyone has been great...

During my last post the area here experienced a freezing, heavy snow and it knocked the power out in our area for nearly 36 hours. It's an easy decision after something like that to hire an electrician to put a subpanel in for a generator hook-up. Fortunately we didn't lose much food - the outside was a wonderful fridge and freezer.

We also had a ton of trees down; while we made out okay my neighbor across the street had one come down and hit his house. Fortunately, they were okay.

Since then it has been business as usual, well, except... I retired!! After 29 years and 8 months of being a trooper I finally decided to stop putting it off, and I hung it up. It really has taken a minute to get settled in, but just this week it's starting to feel like the weight and restraints are coming off.

The OSV was closed at the 21.8 for several weeks after the storm, but it has finally reopened. Just in time too because, let's see, what else? Oh yeah, blue-eyed stallion Dewey and one of his mares, Johnny's Star, had a beautiful baby boy... The first foal of 2026. I think folks are thinking he was born about a week before he was first seen on March 15th. Johnny's Star has since wandered off from Dewey, but that's not out of the ordinary. We'll see if she makes her way back to him. The last I saw the two they were about 2 kilometers apart.

But, the foal/colt is beautiful and full of energy. There is no doubt he will be a welcomed addition to watch grow up and mature. But, for now... he is a mama's boy.

See you next time,
MP Mike

02/22/2026

UPDATE: I'll catch up with everyone soon. We had major outages with this storm, and our power was finally restored this morning after being out for 32 hours. I appreciate everyone's comments, and we will respond soon. Stay safe.

I’m not sure about all of you, but I was super excited about the outcome of today’s USA vs Canada hockey game… Especially on the anniversary of 1980’s Miracle on Ice game in Lake Placid. Kudos to Canada, though. Their defense was insane!

Now I’m sitting here watching it rain, then snow, then rain and snow some more. It is supposed to get really bad later here, and I guess tomorrow, too. I wish it would just snow! The intense winds will make it even more unsafe to be on the roads, and as much as I would like to get to Assateague to check things out, I am going to have to play the sit and wait game. I don’t want to go out and add to the complexity of issues road crews and emergency workers will have tomorrow. So, time will tell.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some images of short-eared owls that I compiled over last winter and so far this winter. I always wanted to get out and shoot shorties, but I just never did. Last winter I traveled to different marshy areas around Delmarva and finally found some; It was the first time I attempted to photograph them.

Since then I have really enjoyed watching them. They are really gorgeous creatures and so much fun to shoot. They’re graceful and energetic yet difficult to locate when grounded, usually on tussock sedge mounds in the marsh. Getting nice images is both challenging and fun, a great combination.

Shorties typically arrive around December in our area and hang out until early spring. They are found in marshy areas or similar areas northern harriers can be found in. They are mottled brown with beautiful yellow eyes and roughly a 3 to 4 foot wingspan. They silently and gracefully glide over the marsh hunting small mammals mostly during dusk and dawn, but many times I go out I have found them active by 3 pm.

Many folks head over to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Cambridge to see them. Others head to coastal areas along Delaware. It’s hard to tell where you might find them, but when you do you will be entranced with their acrobatics and intense yellow eyes. You can’t help but to watch wanting more.

So, enjoy the images… I had a lot of fun making them! And stay safe if you will be in this storm’s path!!

See you next time,
Mike

01/25/2026

Well, who is ready for this winter weather? I know I sure am, but I was hoping for more snow and not a mix leading to rain soon after waking up.

I keep watching the different weather channels from local to cable, and it seems it all depends on the rain/mix/snow line here. The Weather Channel keeps moving their hourly forecast with one minute the mix starting at 9, then 8, then back to 9, then back to 8 again where it now currently sits. I think the only way we’ll know is when the mix actually starts to happen…

Snow on Assateague is always beautiful. It just adds another element, changing the scenery into a magical winter wonderland. Although it doesn’t happen as much as I’d like it to, it does happen so it’s not necessarily a rare occurrence. Maybe a more of a not-so-often occurrence. That’s why when it does snow I always try to get out there with my camera. Unfortunately with tomorrow’s forecast and the quick changeover to a mix then rain soon after waking up it sounds a bit challenging to get out there, but we’ll see.

So, tonight I just felt like wrapping us all up by sharing some images from our snowstorm last year, January 6th, 2025. Ironically, it was a similar situation with just a bit more snow in the morning before the changeover. It started out just as predicted with heavy snow before a changeover to rain around 10 or 11, and that forecast was dead-on. But, it left me with enough time in the morning to get out and hike a bit looking for the horses. I am not sure if tomorrow’s snow will be as heavy as this storm last January, but we shall see.

Hiking in heavy snow is always beautiful, but even when I was little I loved to be outside in the snow. It’s just so quiet as the snow dampens the sound, especially if the wind isn’t blowing. I always felt refreshed, invigorated and alive. As I get older it's almost like it transforms me into being a kid again.

For this trek I started out and walked maybe a mile or less before I ran into three different bands riding the storm out together; Susi and Billy Bob, Happy and his crew, and Tommy who picked up Giggles and her foal.

But, let me just back up a bit in regards to Giggles. Although the main goal was to get some images of the horses in the snow, what I actually found was a very protective Tommy Thunderbolt Nektosha standing beside Giggles. Giggles had been with Bayberry for quite a long time, and recently Happy had let Bayberry and Giggles interact with his band. It was quite amazing to see two stallions interacting in such a way. But, Bayberry, like any other aging horse on the island, was unable to stop time from ticking and his body was beginning to yield.

Once I found Giggles with Tommy I kind of thought Bayberry either got kicked out by Tommy, or the fabled Bayberry might now be remembered as legendary. If you look at Tommy in these images he is very keen, even in the falling snow, of his surroundings. He’s very alert, ears forward and paying great attention to where I eventually was able to locate Bayberry a couple of weeks after the storm. So, honestly, I don’t know if Bayberry died before the storm or sometime after, but Tommy was very much on guard with Giggles by his side. If Bayberry, however, was still alive at this point, I would surmise it was this storm that did him in. Where I eventually found Bayberry was not really far from where I took these images.

Anyway, I hope everyone stays warm and safe. If it was just snow it would be one thing, but the mix with ice and rain coupled with some wind is something not really much fun.

And, I noticed quite a few comments on the availability of shelter... The scrubs on Assateague are very thick. The horses can get in and under them, and you would be amazed to find the canopies not only prevent precipitation from hitting the ground, but the 'floor' is usually extremely soft grass which I can only imagine is quite warm. The horses are not only amazingly smart creatures, they are also extremely well adapted to Assateague... Remember they have been here since the 17th century. For one instance, they have short, stout legs adapted for walking in thick marsh mud that would wreak havoc on the long legs of domesticated horses. In these images they simply chose to stand out and continue to feed because it wasn't bad enough for them to seek cover. I have a feeling if they had to choose between 100 degrees with biting flies and snow, they would choose snow every time. But, that's just my opinion.

See you next time,
Mike

PS If you're on an iPhone (probably an Android too) and you get this "send me a message" thing everytime you click on a photo, I'm sorry. That's not me, Facebook did something in their latest updates and I don't know how to disable it. It's ridiculous. Don't worry, you aren't really sending me a message as I have messages disabled. If you know any way around this please let me know.

01/06/2026

*Warning - last shot in series may be graphic for some*

The annoying sound of that cell phone alarm… It’s 5 am, way too early, freezing cold and just 5 hours ago I was getting home from a 6 hour drive with my wife from back home in Pennsylvania. What in the F$% # am I thinking?

I'll hit snooze for 9 minutes, just 540 more seconds. Then I’ll get up.

Soon enough I find myself muttering son of a b*%$ #, it’s going off again. Already?

I told myself to get up. You have to get up. It’s like a conversation with my inner being arguing why I really don’t have to. It’s Sunday morning for crying out loud… In January!!

Finally, I got up and dragged myself to the kitchen. I grudgingly opened up the fridge and grabbed my yogurt already mixed with overnight oats and blueberries. I have to add my chocolate whey protein and granola yet.

As my homemade breakfast concoction is sitting on the scale, I turned to get a spoon… That is the moment I decided to bump the yogurt container and knock it upside down all over the kitchen floor. I looked at the splatter with total numbness, shaking my head and repeating why did you even get up.

I grabbed the broom, vacuum and mop to clean it all up… And start all over again.

That is how the morning started!

Unprepared for my next move, I headed to the garage and loaded up my kayak in the back of my truck. It’s 28 degrees, and I said to myself, “Self, what could go wrong paddling across the bay to the northern half of Assateague Island in freezing cold water?”

I got everything loaded up just before 7 and started out for the boat launch as the partly cloudy skies illuminated with a stunning orange and pink brilliance that can only be described as nothing less than spectacular. I really wished I got out about 30 minutes earlier to catch it with my camera.

As I squeezed myself into my kayak I tried to maintain my balance and not fall in the ice cold water. I soon shoved off and thought it really is freezing, but it’s so quiet. And the sky was still glowing with the after effects of the morning sunrise… It was just so pretty.

I paddled across the bay and picked a landing spot over on the northern half of Assateague. It’s quicker than walking although a tad more dangerous this time of year. Fortunately, the paddle over was way less remarkable than making my breakfast.

So, where do I start? It’s 10 kilometers or roughly 6.2 miles from the northern tip of Assateague to the day use lot at the State Park. Somewhere between here and there is Chestnut. He hasn’t been seen since early in the fall, and my friends advised me he was really super thin. They felt he was no longer alive and asked if I could help look for him. That is my mission for the day.

I’m not really sure why I enjoy looking for horses that go down. And let me clarify that, all living creatures die as death is part of living. I don’t enjoy the death any creature goes through. However, I do enjoy searching for those that have fallen… It almost becomes like a mission for me. I think I have searched for roughly 18 horses that have fallen and found 11. Not all have been ‘first’ found by me, some have been found coincidentally by hunters and reported to the NPS. My friends usually find out about it as they are much more connected than I, and then they usually ask for help finding their location. That’s usually how this whole thing works. And, I know it helps many that feel connected to the horse in one way or another once they are located.

I will say that, however, the NPS typically does not announce deaths unless it involves something of high profile like a vehicle strike. But, when I find a horse I do send pictures and coordinates to the NPS. I will ask however, since they don’t announce deaths and locations, please do not ask me where I find where one falls. I only say that because I have found in the almost 15 years that I have had this page that it’s best not to advise of locations not otherwise provided by the NPS.

So, I began my trek, zig-zagging my way across the northern tip of the island slowly working my way south.

As the hours went by, the wind picked up pretty stiffly out of the northwest. Enough that I thought to myself kayaking back might be an issue. I found it freezing on the bayside, and warm on the oceanside. As I crossed the island back and forth, I rotated my hat and gloves on and off each time I crossed - like I was entering different climates on each side of the island.

This brush is so thick. I thought to myself finding him will be like finding a needle in a haystack as he literally could be anywhere. Heck, he might not even be dead but just off on his own.

I kept zig-zagging through open spaces in as much of a pattern as I could. Just before eleven, some 4 hrs after I began my search, I came across the northern band now run by CK (Cookie and Kreme - sorry I can’t call a stallion that, so I refer to him as CK). I counted 10 in all including him, but I no longer know all of their names. I took a few pics but continued on.

About an hour later I came across Freedom, a mare from the northern band that went down, and I was able to find in February of 2024. As I passed by her skeletal remains I made a decision to go no more than one more kilometer. I was tired, my hips and knees were aching. It was getting time to pack things up and head back north.

I figured I would do another zig-zag pattern just a bit quicker and get back to my kayak about an hour before sunset. I was feeling at this point I would definitely need another trip up here to find him. But, as I continued on that little bit more before turning around I saw a lump that didn’t quite fit. I was about 200 feet from it and I knew right away it was Chestnut.

To be quite honest I walked up to him thinking nothing, really. I wasn’t being cold, I mean, he was there, I was tired… We expected him to be down, and he was. This is just life on the island. I documented his final resting place, marked Google Maps for coordinates and messaged a contact at the NPS.

But, as with all the horses I found, I sat down nearby beside him and proceeded to eat my protein bar that I brought along and drank some of my energy drink. I took about 15 minutes thinking of several shots that I took of him, and how he always tried to shy away from images I wanted of him. He never seemed to cooperate with me; I say that with a smile. He really was a gorgeous horse with a stunning two-tone mane. Did you guys know that he was siblings with Bodacious Bob? They both had Bolt and Rosie as their mom and dad. How did Chestnut look so different, I thought?

Anyway, that’s pretty much it. I headed back north along the beach making much better time than having to search on my way back, too. The kayak paddle wasn't as bad as I thought it would be in the wind and before long I was back at my truck and got home, exhausted.

As for me, yeah, I know. It’s been about a year and a half since I last posted. This post is already pretty long so I will fill everyone in as I post. But, I just needed to shut off the noise (social media) a bit. I don’t have time to post daily or even weekly, but I hope to get a post or two or three up a month… We’ll see how it goes.

Until then I hope all of you have been fantastic! And Happy New Year to all of us. I'll catch up with you soon.

See you next time,
Mike

05/06/2024

Surprise, I’m still here. In all seriousness the last few months I got myself into a so-called photographic slump a bit. Work has been incredibly busy, and I had to make a few runs to Pennsylvania for family issues so any free time I seem to get lately I just feel like putting my feet up in complete silence and drinking a large black coffee, and I love coffee!!

But, I did manage to grab a few shots of a seal last month. As with all creatures I come across I tend to think a lot when I am photographing them. For instance, this fella right here. What decisions did it make to end up on this beach at this very moment in time? Where has it been, what has it seen?

I don’t think I’m alone in feeling like this fella sometimes; I don’t think I’m the only one feeling sometimes that I’m on a beach or in this world alone and drifting letting the currents take me where they take me and fighting the currents only seems to make it worse.

You wake up and choose to go this way today which might lead you to a hungry shark or a hundred hungry sharks. So, you swim faster trying to get ahead of them only for the current to push you back or slow you down, and you ask yourself what the hell have I done to deserve this today?

Truth is you haven’t done anything.

But, then the sun comes out, and you see the seashore. A beautiful beach that is so inviting you cannot wait to enjoy it. But, the fight you have been through has been so arduous that it has changed you. No longer do you smile and laugh or carelessly go about your day. Now, you are cautious and mindful while contemplating your every move. You might not even want to get out of that water because you feel comfortable where you are in the abyss that keeps sucking you down.

But, deep inside you hear Rocky Balboa telling you, “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!”

So, you get out of that water, and you go to that sunny beach. And, even though you didn’t want to go you end up having the best day of your life. You forget it all and hope it never ends.

But, it does end, and you have to get back in that cold, dark ocean water and do it all again. You have to fight the sharks, fight the current and keep your head strong telling yourself there is a purpose to this - you have another sunny beach to find, and no one is going to stop you from finding it.

So, get out there and go find it…

And, never let anyone ever tell you that you aren’t worth it, especially yourself, because you are!

Never let the hard days win!

See you next time…
~MP Mike

03/10/2024

I wanted so badly to say in my last picture post (with the whale and dolphins) that on the same day we also discovered a snowy owl had settled in on the island, as well. I’m sure if you follow other pages you have already heard about it, but I decided to wait a bit to release my images just to make sure it was not “over advertised” so-to-speak. It’s wonderful when folks are able to get out and find any of the snowy owls that visit, but unfortunately not everyone respects the need for them to rest during the daytime. The owl is now long gone, actually, it really wasn’t on the island very long so I feel very fortunate to get the images that I did.

I also tried something new this year and used my 600mm coupled with my 2x teleconverter giving me 1200mm of ‘zoom’. I honestly didn’t think the real world images would turn out that great (teleconverters tend to reduce image quality), but I recently purchased a Canon R3 and the focus ability and power to drive the lens combination was much better than I anticipated. The ability to use that combination left a lot of room between me and the owl; I even found myself backing up at times just to get more of the surroundings in.

So, back to the snowy owl. Friends of mine first spotted the owl on December 31st so my wife and I headed down to meet them. They showed us the owl, and after we took some images we decided to just drive down the OSV a bit farther. That’s when we spotted the whale that was highlighted in my last post. Once the whale swam back out into the open ocean, we continued down the OSV and then returned to the snowy owl for sunset. It really was a perfect way to end the year.

Fortunately, I did manage to have a few other opportunities to photograph the owl, but not that many. It was also nice that anytime that I went out to see it, everyone that I noticed that were also taking images were very respectful of the creature. My last opportunity to see the owl was at sunset on January 5th… A few days later the OSV closed down due to overwash, and by the time it opened again the snowy owl was gone.

I won’t pretend I know much about snowy owls, but what I learned from other folks and some light reading is the owls that leave their grounds in the Arctic are usually younger owls. I’m told males may have lighter banding when younger and will turn nearly all white as they age. As far as the females go they have darker banding that they keep as they get older, although it might slightly fade. For instance, an adult female may resemble an immature male. Except for the all/nearly all white male, I am not sure how to tell the difference between the adult female and immature male, honestly. Although I believe the immature females are the ones we have seen that have really dark banding. They are also considered diurnal meaning they could feed at all hours of the day (I suppose they have to say that since their summer consists of 24 hours of light in the Arctic regions), but I am told the ones that are on Assateague for a few short weeks tend to ‘sleep’ during the day and hunt at night. That has been my experience watching them over the years, as well. They seem to hang out in one spot during the day and rest as much as possible. As the evening comes and it gets darker I’ve noticed they seem to wake up, and their activity greatly increases until they choose to fly off the dune to start hunting prey. I’ve also read that certain snowy owls will return year after year to the same winter grounds while others will stay in the Arctic year round. With that said, Assateague has had years of no snowy owls, so apparently no snowy owl has made Assateague their permanent winter retreat. But, Assateague is way farther south than their normal winter grounds, and our area is considered their irruptive area in that they will visit irregularly in the wintertime. And one last little fact, their wingspan is roughly 5 feet, and they are the heaviest owl in North America weighing in at approximately 4 pounds. I read that's about a pound heavier than my beloved great horned owls.

So, there you have it… Assateague Island’s star visitor of the year that traveled 2,000 or so miles from the north to grace us with its presence.

I hope you enjoy the images.

See you next time…
~MP Mike

02/25/2024

Another little update... I was able to locate Freedom's final resting place today. The NPS has been advised. She's part of the northern herd.

02/20/2024

Hi everyone...!! I hope everyone has been wintering well. I don't have any images to share with this post, but I just wanted to provide an update on the herd. Most of you know I was able to locate General Harker and Yankee after hunters reported finding them. This past weekend a friend of mine found April, and the AIA announced Ninka's passing. Today I was able to locate Ninka's final resting place and decided to continue on my walk. After a short while I was able to locate BJ in her final resting place, as well. She has been missing for a few months and we thought she had also passed, and she in fact has. As I always have said the horses live and die on the island, it's just how it is. While it's tough watching them fade away, the island always has a way to match their passing with new life... It's been like this for hundreds of years. So cheers to Yankee, General Harker, April, Ninka and now BJ. And, unfortunately, I'm still looking for one or two others.

01/21/2024

Baby, it’s cold outside!! I usually don’t mind the cold, but couple that with a cold wind and a little bit of frozen precipitation on the ground and I will admit… It's cold.

I hope everyone is settling into 2024 nice and easily. Me, not so gracefully. I usually get up at 4 every morning; When my alarm on my phone went off the other morning, I got up to turn it off. I have no clue what I was doing but I stumbled with my phone in my hand and literally threw it across the bedroom. It hit the bed frame just right and shattered the screen. Fortunately my co-worker lended me a phone to use, but I am so tied to my phone with passwords, texts with second verifications to apps, websites etc… it made me realize that it’s much better to have a different way to authorize your sign-ins on different websites, apps, etc than a text messaged code. I’m also an android guy, but the phone I was given to use was an iPhone 12 mini and it’s awesome. I looked up and found Apple decided to stop making the mini after the iPhone 13, but I say bring it back. It’s so small and light - you can hide the thing anywhere. I would certainly convert to an iPhone if Apple decided to reintroduce it. Anyway, my phone is off getting fixed and should be back later this week or next week.

That’s how my 2024 is getting started. But, 2023 ended way better…

My wife and I spent the remaining days of 2023 with our friends who also enjoy Assateague. On New Year’s Eve she wanted to look for shells, and our friends were already out on the OSV. It was a beautiful day, so we ventured out to meet them and for her to begin her shelling quest.

On our way down the beach I noticed quite a few dolphins jumping. But, I felt like I was missing something. All I could hear in my head was Darth Vader’s line in the original Star Wars when he said, “I sense something; a presence I've not felt since…”

We caught up to our friends and messed around on the beach while taking some shots of the dolphins, and then decided we should drive closer to the state line for shell searching.

As we drove I kept looking over at the ocean. The water was white-capping a teeny bit, and there were a bunch of dolphins. But, I just couldn’t shake that something else was out there. I even said to my wife that I feel like there is something out there, but I just don’t see it yet.

We made it maybe another kilometer or so and this time, I finally looked over at the ocean just in time to see a big spout of water rising out of the ocean. WHALE…!!! I jammed on the brakes and hopped out running behind my truck to our friends yelling at them WHALE and pointed out towards its direction.

For the next 30 to 45 minutes we enjoyed a wonderful show the humpback whale gave us along with the dolphins. He didn’t breach like the other humpback I saw and shared here on the page a couple of years ago now, but he gave us some tail/fluke shots and a couple of shots of his head as it broke the water’s surface. My friend got the best shot of its head, way better than mine.

It was a fantastic end to the year, not only seeing the whale but spending it with friends that are just as close to me as my family.

But, it does get a little more interesting.

After a week or so I got curious. I had a distant picture of its fluke which is like a whale’s fingerprint. I was curious if there were websites out there that track whales and/or their sightings.

I spent some time Googling and found a website named Happy Whale. I was able to upload some of my images to the website in the hopes that the whale we saw could be identified. Probably a longshot, but I figured I would try anyway.

I tried to forget about it, but it was hard. Finally after about 10 days of waiting I decided to login to my account, and when I did I was shocked.

The whale we saw was named Gupta Gupta (don’t ask me - I didn’t name him). The images of the fluke were matched to 4 other sightings: One last November off the coast of Virginia Beach, one in February 2023 in the Dominican Republic, and 2 sightings off the coast of Long Island in July of 2021. Images of each sighting are on the website, and all the flukes match. My images were taken from the beach so they are distant, but with AI and resources, the folks running the website matched them all up together.

So, check it out if you wish. Go to happywhale.com. Click on browse data, and then in the next window that opens up, click on individual, and then put the name Gupta Gupta in the box and click on search. You should see an entry come up on the world map… zoom in and click on each box to see the pictures and the data for each of the sightings. It’s really quite cool.

Well, I always enjoy learning something new, and I hope you find this interesting, as well.

Stay warm!!

See you next time…
~MP Mike

MegaPixel Mike

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