Three species of owls are year-round refuge residents. The eastern screech owl is a tree cavity nester, and is occasionally found in wood duck or Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel nest boxes. Common barn owls often nest in hunting blinds in adjacent marshes. These owls usually eat small rodents and birds, while the larger forest-dwelling great horned owl preys on an occasional rabbit, gray squirrel, or Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel. Northern bobwhite and American woodcock are two small upland gamebird species that nest regularly at Chincoteague.
Bobwhites are native year-round residents, while woodcock are migratory.
Forest management to control Southern pine beetle benefits woodcock by providing clear cut areas and early successional stages of forest regrowth, both of which are preferred habitat for nocturnal roosting. Small nesting boxes have been erected in several refuge impoundments for tree swallows, who feed on abundant populations of flies and mosquitoes.