Along the Sunset Trail

Tuesday, Jan 11, 2016

As the day moved towards evening, more and more clouds were reporting for sunset duty.  Previously, on a hike in Nags Head Woods, a little parcel of land owned by the Nature Conservancy, I had found a path that terminated in the bay and thought it might be a good place to observe sunset. So I took another little hike down to check it out.

Just before I arrived at the parking lot,  I saw the sun go behind a huge cloud bank.  I thought that sunset would be a bust, but, since I've experienced this before and had the day go cloudy, then come back to sunny, I went ahead and began my hike.

  I enjoyed the peaceful solitude, unbroken by a even a bird call or the scold of a squirrel.  I took pictures of glowing leaves, the last leaf on a young oak tree, and the view of the trail in front of me as it wound through mostly pine trees interspersed with a few oaks and sweetgums. When I got to the first open place,  with a view of  the sound, I got a few pre-sunset pictures and thought that was the best I would get. Just past that spot, I stopped to admire a huge tree that appears to be dead or mostly dead. Then I noticed that the light was getting brighter. When I reached the end of the trail, I found the solid cloud was breaking up into thousands of fluffy clouds, leaving spaces for the sun to play hide and seek.

This now rare glow caught my eye

The trail is made even quieter by the pine needles which muffled my footsteps

I thought this pre sunset would be all there was to see

And old tree cycling its nutrients for new growth

Sun behind clouds but clouds are breaking up

I watched earth, air and water produce beautiful bubble art along the shore

The last bit of the sun disappearing behind the horizon 

Then lighting up the fluffy clouds that formed into a huge set of rays by themselves. 

Then being chased off by the darkness

I hiked quickly back to the road to beat full dark.  But when I noticed the sky showing near where an accessible trail went, I decided to take a quick look.  By this time, the sky was so dark, that I could only get the next images with my camera set to take hand held night scenes.

Going......

Afterlight reflections in a pond

Looking up from the parking lot

I started home, feeling happy that I had had an entire day filled with beauty. (I had explored Manteo that morning.)  Then, just as I made the turn to the the road my house is on, I spotted the moon rising over the beach houses.  So I grabbed my camera and got one last picture.

Hello, New Moon

And my body felt invigorated by moving for nine miles, at least eight of which I was hiking, all the while collecting beautiful memories.

My Birdest Day

January 12, 2016

We have been having lots more birds at the North Pond at  Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.  The Visitor Center overlooks this pond and has three scopes set up in the front windows for the enjoyment of visitors.

I worked there last Sunday after a night of moderately heavy rain.  A huge puddle had formed in the grass just behind the parking lot and I drove in to find it being used by forty white ibis and at least thirty Canada geese, as well as about a hundred grackles. Red winged blackbirds were also hanging around as were a pair of Savannah sparrows. Several photographers, including me, got to enjoy them.

Juvenile and adult white ibis

The Canada geese are grazing while the white ibis probes for bugs and worms

Then Tuesday, I arrived to find the pond at least twice as full of birds as usual. there were at least forty great egrets, over fifty American white pelicans, more than one hundred fifty tundra swans, and maybe fifty double crested cormorants. I saw many great blue herons, including five together. The avocets were back about 120 strong and, as the day passed, more and more gulls came in out of the wind and sat on the distant sandbar. The American white pelicans were very active, flying about and landing with a watery skid, looking like barefoot water skiers for a few seconds. Some were also actively feeding in a large group looking like dancers as they bobbed for fish, while the wind blew their "skirts" over their heads. Snow geese flew through and then one batch settled down where we could barely see their heads beyond the grass. 

Lots of great egrets and a few gadwalls

Mostly pelicans

One eagle came and sat on the osprey tower, then left and then both members of the regularly seen pair came back to delight visitors. The snow geese sat where they could barely be seen and the gadwall and bufflehead hung way back on the back side of the pond to get out of the winds and waves. I was so blown away, that I took habitat pictures of the birds. Even then, they live where I can barely catch them with the camera.

After the eagle left his perch, he flew over a group of feeding ducks and put them up

I had my camera in my hand when snow geese flew by the front windows

Can you find at least four species of birds? The front blob is a feeding tundra swan

Eagles on the osprey tower in front of the Visitor Center

We can watch red-breasted mergansers but not get their pictures.  This was in Manteo bay

I caught this young goose goose stepping near the road on the way to Pea Island Visitor Center

Several weeks ago, I took a movie of the white pelicans feeding.   Tuesday, we got to watch this behavior again and it delighted our visitors. You might like to the feeding ballet.  The wind was blowing at thirty plus mph so it's jerky.  Please MUTE your computer to avoid listening to the wind.

Hopefully this current cold spell will finally bring more birds down here and working will get even more exciting.

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Wandering Down the Outer Banks

January 7, 2016

Last Thursday, I thought I saw the weather brightening, so I decided to drive south on the Outer Banks and see what I could find. By the time I left the house, the sun was making a watery appearance.

Then, only a few miles down the road, the skies clouded over again.  I decided to keep going in the hopes I'd get some periods of sunlight. When I got to Rodanthe, the site of the book and movie, Nights in Rodanthe, I caught sight of a rainbow. I scrambled to to find public access to Pamlico Sound and soon found a store with open land beside it.

Rainbow over Pamlico Sound

Next I saw beach access to the Atlantic so decided to take a short walk.  I walked down the sandy road, made to give ORV's beach access, and then met a man walking with two beautiful bearded collies.  We had an interesting chat and I found one of his dogs is going to be shown in the Westminster dog show.  He is only 18 months old but has had his championship for several months.

A large deer had crossed the road

Dog walker along the gray Atlantic Ocean

Houses are almost always in view along the National Seashore

Then I continued south, stopping when something looked interesting.

National Seashore public access to Pamlico Sound

A little cemetery is eroding into Pamlico Sound

But it has people buried there in after 2000, and people still visit and leave flowers

I was always planning to visit the Hatteras Lighthouse so making the small detour to see it was on the agenda.

A mockingbird was sheltering from the cold winds

The Hatteras lighthouse is the tallest in the world.  It had to be moved because of erosion that was letting tides destroy its wooden base. That amazing story is shown here in a very engaging movie.  The lighthouse is only open to climb its 268 steps to the light from the third Friday in April through Columbus Day.  I was sad not to be able to see both the inside, and the views from the top.

Old lighthouse in a new spot

Each island seems to have a marina full of fishing boats to charter

Another interesting place was the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum.  The building looked intriguing  but was closed.  But, when checking the webpage, I think I may have just arrived too early.

The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum 

I had passed up the ferry to get to the museum, which is only a couple of blocks further.  When I found, I couldn't visit the museum, I came back and waited 45 minutes for the ferry.  I found it very interesting, after being used to the public ferries connecting Galveston Island and Bolivar. First of all there were only a few cars - less than ten on both trips. Second, we didn't get the safety message, third, we didn't have a place to go upstairs to view the waters and use the bathroom. And the strangest thing, on the trip over, was that we turned around and backed across Pamlico Sound for the hour-long trip.  Then when we arrived, I noticed a battered piling and though a captain must have bumped it a time or two.  I found I was right when I almost fell down right after taking the picture of it. (On the return trip, I was on a different boat that drove us forward, and didn't make the landing seem so exciting.)

One of the ferries

The last house we passed as we went out a canal to the sound

Those pilings look pretty battered - opps - they just took another hit

The Outer Banks, as well as Islands ranging from Maryland to the Georgia coast, harbor wild horses. On Ocracoke, there are a few that are kept behind fences, not getting to be wild at all.

Not so wild horses

 I had to go see the Ocracoke lighthouse. It is both the smallest and the oldest working lighthouse in North Carolina. (And second oldest lighthouse still working in the United States.)

Ocracoke Lighthouse

I stopped for a late lunch of fresh raw oysters and fish tacos before making the trip back on the ferry.  I forgot I was supposed to be on ferry time and missed the ferry by five minutes.  But when I got to the loading site, I found the ferry just arriving and not planning to leave for another 20 minutes.   (Haven't figured out if I read the schedule wrong, read the wrong schedule or if the ferry was late.) The winds were still high and birds were not flying. I only saw one ship on the hour-long trip.  But I did get out of the car a few times, and wobbled my way across the heaving deck, to places on the ferry that gave me the best views of the sunset.

A work ship going back to the docks

Sun almost set across the safety raft

Goodnight sun, hope you can get stronger soon

It was a low-key, but enjoyable day.  I'll be working over the weekend, part of Monday and Tuesday, but am hoping the weather will be much better for my next set of days off.

Memories of My Time at Malheur NWR

I wrote the original blog in late summer of 2012, as I was about to take a series of vacations, then come back to Malheur NWR for another few months. Thought it might be nice for you to see what it looks like normally. 

This tower is identical to the one at Sacramento NWR, my last assignment, so was a welcome first sight of Malheur NWR. And it has been  the scene from the kitchen window of Coyote Hollow, and from the living room window of Carp Haven. And when we spot it on the way back from Crane Hot Springs - our Tuesday night out place this summer - we know we are only a few miles from the refuge and bed. It has been declared unsafe to use, but a pair of owls raise their kids in it each year. 

Several species of animals were always entertaining  us all over the refuge headquarters. The Belding ground squirrels have gone back into hibernation after their grass dried up.  They spend up to nine months hibernating, but have been out most of the time since I arrived. One squirrel trained me to leave bird seed near his burrow by coming towards me and whistling every time I brought the seeds around to fill the feeders. And another would climb my yard willow tree to eat oranges and peanut butter. 

The California quail are also always present and usually cheering for Chi-ca-go. They often distracted me from my computer work.  I had to stop work to take this picture out my window. Now most of their children are full grown but I saw one pair with little babies a few days ago.

The Donner and Blitzen  River brings the refuge the water it needs to maintain the wetlands before filling up Malheur, Mud, and Harney Lakes. This part of the river has been rehabilitated to make it a better habitat for the local redband trout. This view of the river from near P-Ranch, is my favorite river view.

Owls played a huge role in my bird life at the refuge. The late afternoons and evenings were enhanced by the flight of short-eared owls over the golden fields. A burrowing owl family raised a family of five, only a few yards from the highway  to Burns. I stopped to look for them almost every time I went by. And a snowy owl passed through our area in early April and I got to get a life look at it.

A pair of great horned owls  has lived in the fire tower for several years. I often fell asleep listening to their conversation. They raised two babies.  A few nights ago, I heard the youngsters calling for their supper and found them sitting together. The last time I had found them, they still had baby grey feathers on their heads.

Willows are an important tree on the refuge. The Civil Conservation Corp planted non-native golden willows at Benson Pond. Today they provide holes for tree swallows and produce copious amounts of nectar and pollen that attract all kinds of bugs. And the native coyote willows are found along the Blitzen River and various canals. They too, support insect and bird life and are the best place to find yellow warblers, vireos, raptors, and owls.

The land here is a wonderful mix of desert, volcanic outcroppings, and wetlands. The beauty is doubled by the shallow waters when it reflects a sunset or a cloud-strewn sky.

The late afternoon sun turns the low hills to gold.

One of the reasons I wanted to be here in the late spring and early summer was to see breeding ducks and waders. This avocet built her nest only a few feet from the road.  I took this picture from my car. A few weeks later, the pond that was just behind her dried up and I never did see the avocet babies. But I have seen lots of black-necked stilt babies.

One of my big jobs here was to collect bees so we could get a baseline idea of the species that occur here. I'm also working on a display that will have dried flowers, bees, and butterflies from the refuge in it. This was probably the first bee I saw up here.

One of the birding hot spots on the Refuge is Krumbo Swamp.  It is just where the road to Krumbo Reservoir is gated.  There is a great overlook where you can set up a scope and enjoy birds for a half hour or more. And the hill above Krumbo Reservoir held the most wildflowers this spring.

The refuge has the westernmost breeding population of bobolinks.  When the males arrive in June, the immediately start singing from every shrub, post or fence available to them.  But soon they are living most of their lives down in the grasses of the wet fields.

As soon as part of the Steens Mountain Loop Road opened, I went up to Steens Mountain Campground and camped for a few lovely days. Later I got to drive the entire loop but still haven't had time to do some of the hikes I would have like to do.

A beautiful valley along the Steens Mountain Loop Road.

We are always excited when we find black-crowned night herons.  This one was near one of my bee transects and flew a short ways, then stopped to watch me take his picture.

Life here depends on the water from the snow melt off Steens Mountain. And the mountain dominates our landscape from much of the refuge. This was one of the first pictures I took of it and is one of my favorites.

This blog was written just before I went on a series of vacations from Arizona to the Boundary Waters. Then I came back for a few more months at this magnificent place, leaving after the first snow storm of the season. 

For more blogs on wild birds, click on the picture.