I slept in this morning, then went out to the beach,
parking across from the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. The tip of the island here is part of the
Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Our
nation’s first national seashore was established in 1937 to preserve
significant parts of unspoiled barrier islands along North Carolina’s stretch
of the Atlantic Coast.
The Park Service
has fenced off portions of the beach here to provide protection for nesting
seabirds and turtles.
But, it’s obvious that vehicle traffic still has an
impact.
There were a few squalls offshore, but I thought that I’d
make it out and back before the rain began, so I walked out to the tip of the
peninsula at Hatteras Inlet. As I
started to return along the “Pole Road”, it was obvious that my estimate of how
long it would take before the weather blew in was incorrect, and it began to
pour. Fortunately, a fisherman and his
son gave me a ride back to my car.
Returning from my walk, I stopped at Harbor House Seafood at 10 a.m. to pick up a few meal’s worth of fish for suppers back in Southern Pines. Owner Vicki still had the fresh scallops and
mahi-mahi, but was out of the grouper. However, while I talked to her, her crew filleted a grouper, so I ended up
with 1.8 lbs of snowy grouper (Epinephelus niveatus) for $25.99/lb, 1.92 of
“dolphin fish” for $23.99/lb, and 2 lbs of scallops at $23. Surprisingly, North Carolina charges sales tax on fresh food!! There was $10.76 tax
on the $138.84 worth of fish. I hadn’t
asked about the prices, so was somewhat surprised, but what the heck? We will end up with 3 gourmet meals at
“Market Rate”.
I stopped at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge to walk the dike around the
‘ponds’, and came back along the beach, hoping to find a Piping Plover, but was
unsuccessful doing so.
I did enjoy
seeing a brood of Black Ducks in the pond, as well as good views of
Oystercatchers and there was a summering Ruddy Duck.
The colony of Least Terns along the mile or so of beach
appeared to be successful, and there were many nests with chicks.
Willets and Sanderlings appear to be the common
‘sandpipers’ here.
 |
| Willet |
The drive back to Southern Pines was uneventful, unless
you count my stop at a Bojangles', a southern franchise whose chicken tastes a
bit better than KFC or Popeye’s. I dragged
in at Sister-In-Law Ellen’s and we enjoyed a glass of wine on the deck as the
sun set.
Cape Hatteras Natl. Seashore eBird Checklist is Here
Pea Island NWR North Pond eBird Checklist is Here
Pea Island NWR beach eBird Checklist is Here
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