Pelican Banding

Yesterday, we went to Pelican Island which is a Corps of Engineers dredge spoil island in Pamlico Sound. We all met at the boat launch at Oegon Inlet and were given a lift to the island by the Coast Guard on two boats a large MLB and a small twenty footer whaler type. When we left the dock there were small craft warnings and the weather forecast was anything but good, however as it turned out the weather was perfect. After the Coast Guard landed us on the island, the adult birds became excited and took flight. Fortunately they aren't aggressive, so we didn't have any birds dive bombing us.

I know a picture of someone putting on boots is boring, but it is the first good picture we have of James. The other guy is one of the banders and the rings hanging around his neck are the bands which are put on the right leg of the pelican.


Many shore birds make a small indentation in the sand and lay their egg in the indentation. They don't bother building a nest or camouflaging the egg. This egg is an endangered oyster catcher's egg that was just laying in the sand. When you see this, you can understand why it is necessary to close beaches when endangered shore birds are nesting. Only idiots would oppose such a needed safeguard.

The young pelicans are grouped up for the most part similar to teenagers on a Friday night. They for the most part are very excitable and will try to bite anyone in reach. Pelicans have a tooth type protrusion at the end of their upper beak which allows them to hold on to their catch of fish.


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Okay! So we have a group of young excitable pelicans which may strike out at this unknown threat they have never laid eyes on, and each pelican has a sharp tooth at the end of it's beak. Now stick your hand in there, hold the beak closed and gab both wings just behind the body. By the way, be careful to not close off his nostrils on the top of the beak.










These guys are to small for banding, but they still act out screaming, grunting and striking at anything that gets in their way. Actually, one sort of looks like Jimmy Durante. You do remember Jimmy Durante. Don't you?






Well, Patty has it mostly right. She should have the wings clasped just behind the body. That serves two purposes. One, the bird is pretty well immobilized and won't beat you with it's wings. Two, and most importantly when the wings are grabbed in the back near the body, the poop machine is pointed away from you. Any of you science types out there distressed over my non-anatomical writings have never grabbed an excited pelican. Actually, Patty was more concerned about injuring the pelican than in getting pooped.







Now this guy has it right. Notice where the business end of the poop machine is pointed. There is no way the guy holding the bird is going to get messy. I wonder if the guy doing the banding is aware of the danger he is facing. No matter what you do, you will smell worse than any barnyard or chicken house, of which I have heard. After being washed with Clorox, our shoes are still outside.

Lee holding the pelican he caught and James banding the bird. Lee is an intern at Alligator River NWR, and James is an intern here at Pea Island NWR. Both of them are great guys and we enjoy being around them.



The lady in the white blouse is Abbey Reibel the Pea Island volunteer coordinator. She is a real pleasure to work with and has made our stay very enjoyable.

Will, another on of the Pea Island interns and all around good guy has captured a big one which he is obviously proud.

Jess, an Alligator River intern getting ready to jump into the pile. Jess is one of those people who seem to smile most of the time.

Pelicans build little mounds of sticks and grass on which to lay their eggs. We saw a number of these with either one or two eggs. The mound is about six to eight inches high and just keeps the eggs off the sand. There were some nests in low scrub trees, which were easy to see and reach into.

We actually saw this little guy hatch out and wondered if we were doing more harm than good by keeping mom away from her nest. There were a large number of hatchlings on the island, which made us curious about the possible increased mortality rate because of our presence



Pat was called "Mother Earth" by the teachers a her school in Mobile and this picture sort of confirms it. In reality, one of the weird things that happened after the birds were banded was they would gather around one of the humans. It wasn't unusual for birds to make movement difficult because of their grouping up around people. I guess that since we ran the parents off, the young sought us as surrogates. Maybe, maybe not, who knows?

When the banding was done, we went over to a Royal Tern rookery. They are truly beautiful birds and made quite a spectacle as they flew on our approach.


The chicks are similar to chickens in that they are plain and devoid of interesting color as compared to the adults. There are three eggs just sitting in small depressions in the sand, but unlike the pelicans, I don't think the terns abandoned their chicks or eggs. We were within about ten to fifteen feet from the colony.

Another satisfying and interesting day drew to a close with the boat ride back to the docks at Oregon Inlet. We both experienced some things we had never done before,
and had mixed emotions about our effect on the birds and whether the discomfort caused them was necessary.

Top of the Heep Interns

Here at Pea Island, we have three interns, two male, Will, James and one female Emily. In this photo are two of the Pea Island interns, Emily and Will spoiling two perfectly good dogs. James,the other Pea Island intern was probably catching bugs or surfing when this picture was taken. Our dogs love these three young folks and will ignore our commands when they are around. At Alligator River we have Lee, Jess and ladies man Cal.Fortunately for us, we get to see all six of these young adults frequently.
This is truly an outstanding group of young people which are hard working, intelligent, motivated and fun to be around. They lend a summer camp atmosphere to the place, and like summer camp, it is going to be tough to say good bye when they have to leave.

No Cat but Two Raccoons

James, one of the interns, spotted a domestic cat near the South pond and set Have-a- Heart type traps baited with cat food. Patty went along the next morning to check the traps and found no domestic cat but two small raccoons.

This guy was blonde and had the markings of a standard coon except in tones of blonde.

This little cutie with standard markings and color was in one of the traps. Patty wishes she could have brought this little guy home for a pet. As you can see, working on a wildlife refuge is a neat way to help out during this time of budget crunches.

Busy Days and Nights

It seems there is something to do every day and night on the Outerbanks, and we are trying to do as much of it as we can. There is a play entitled "The Lost Colony" which tells the story of the first English settlement in the new world.The photo on the left is of the set for the opening act. This set is transformed from an Indian village, to a queens chambers,to a settlers "Fort Roanoke", and back again. Costuming, set design, directing, acting, dancing and ambiance in the outdoors all combine to make this a very enjoyable experience. When on the Outerbanks, take in this very entertaining depiction of early history.

Yesterday we went to a kite boarding competition which was fun to watch. So much so that we spent an entire afternoon observing the fun. The entire kite, harness and lines all fit into a package about the size of a backpack. In fact it has straps which would facilitate hauling it to the beach.




After the kite or more accurately parasail is unpacked and inflated it is taken to the waters edge.



The kite is then allowed to fill out with the wind and the fun begins.




Two kites that have caught the wind and are ready to go.









The kite boarder controls the kite by the means of a trapeze type affair and by manipulating the control is able to change direction quite rapidly though usually getting wet in the process. It is really interesting watching these folks manipulating the controls and tacking with the wind in order to gain the most speed.



They use the wind to lift them into the air and to facilitate the performance of tricks. UP! UP!



UP! and AWAY! Some of these guys go thirty to forty feet in the air. Some turn flips and others do tricks that we have seen snow boarders do coming off a ramp. LOOKS LIKE A BLAST!



At times, the wind, waves, reaction time and body don't quite come together to impress the crowd and fellow enthusiasts.




OOPS.

Don't worry. There is always someone flying around waiting to clean up the mess. In this case, a friendly neighborhood osprey.

Beauty and the Beast

This post is for our friends that think Junior is such a sweet little thing, and in reality he is, however, at times he looks quite ferocious when he is smiling. When Patty or I are eating something Junior deems to be desirable, he begins to grin. I'm sure he thinks he is being cute since his grin often elicits grins from his human slaves and possible dropped morsels. I will leave it to the gentle reader to decide whether his grin is friendly or off putting.

I included the sunrise photo for everyone to witness the hardships we must face in this place. Every morning, Newton and Junior are ready to go outside for their morning constitutional at about 5:30, and when I open the door the first peeks of the Sun are on the horizon. By the time we are coming off the beach a glorious painting has unfolded before us. It is truly difficult to get homesick when each day begins with such splendor. Even stormy weather brings greetings of beauty, sounds and smells of the sea and artists pallets of color.

Osprey Nests

One of the things we find so very interesting here at Pea Island is the number of osprey nests and the ability to get very close without disturbing the birds. Poles with platforms have been set around the refuge and osprey build nests and apparently return to the same nest year after year. These very large, colorful birds are often mistaken for bald eagles since their heads are white.

A local restaurant, Basnight's Lone Cedar, has an osprey nesting platform at the back of the restaurant, and it is possible to sit in the restaurant and watch the osprey parents tend to the three chicks in the nest. You are sitting on the same level as the nest which gives you a "birds eye view" (I feel so clever)of the proceedings. By the way the food is quite yummy and we give it a four out of a possible five for scrumptousness. Patty was almost as giggly as a teenager eating the she crab soup (recommended) and watching the ospreys.
By the way, when viewing an osprey nest and the rear end of a baby pokes over the side, beware, because they projectile poop.

Friends Leaving Camp

This work camping thing is a great deal like going to summer camp. The Moores, a full timing couple, which were here when we arrived left for some R&R before their next work camping assignment. Patty likens the experience of couples, who have known each other for a short while and have become friends, going their separate ways, to leaving summer camp. The situation that put everyone, volunteers, interns and refuge personnel together,with all the many varied personalities and how everyone fits into the group, can never be the same again. You are richer from having known them and immediately dislike the thought of being without the discussions, sitting on the beach, fishing, laughter, and shared meals. We look forward to seeing Glenn and Ann down the road.

Surf Fishing

Surf fishing seems to be the recreational choice for many people around the outer banks so I thought that I would try my hand. The other night, while feeding bait to various fish, I was joined by two of the interns and we all proceeded to feed the fish. All that I have caught so far has been a number of small black tipped sharks which is fun, but not the purpose of the exercise.
Sooner or latter, I will catch something edible and we will enjoy a fine meal of fresh fish. As inexpensive as seafood is here and the high cost of fishing tackle, I would probably save money by continuing to buy seafood. So far we have had oysters, mahi mahi, shrimp, grouper and Abbie our volunteer coordinator brought some tuna steaks caught on her husband's boat the PHIDEAUX.


Yep, This is a tough life.

Sad End to a Gentle Creature

I really hesitated to post pictures of this dead turtle but felt the whole story needed to be told. In the two weeks that we have been here, this is the third dead turtle to wash ashore one of which was an endangered Kemps Ridley. It appeared they were all killed by boat props.
These poor guys have only a one in a thousand chance of making it to adulthood and when they do someone runs over them with a boat. The more insidious threat to the sea turtles is man trowing away things that resemble their favorite food, jelly fish. In an earlier post I discussed the number of plastic bags and balloons that we had picked up from the beach. It is thought these things , when in the water, appear to be jelly fish to a turtle, and they gobble them up. Plastics lodge in a turtles digestive system and slowly kill the turtle. I don't know about anyone else, but this doesn't sound like a comfortable way to die to me.

Dare Days

Last Saturday Patty, an intern named Emily and I went into Manteo for the Virginia Dare Festival. Virginia Dare was the first European baby born in the new world and she was born very near Manteo on Roanoke Island. The festival is laid out around the harbor and neat little downtown area. Like most small town festivals, there were numerous food booths and people selling everything from photographs to crafts.
No festival is complete without local talent being showcased and Dare Days is no different. There were little kids dancing proudly and of course older singers and dancers.
We walked around checking out all of the displays and talking to a number of vendors. One young woman had a display of photographs depicting the beach and many other nautical themes as well as flora and fauna that are indicative of the outer banks. While I was checking out her work, a friend of hers came in and asked her about her photos. She told her friend "I was bored this winter and just went out and took some pictures and decided to display them here. She had a really good eye and her work looked extremely professional so much so that I'm convinced she could become another Stiglitz or Adams. I hope she learned something about herself and will continue with her photography.
One guy had a 1926 model John Deere engine running a homemade ice cream contraption using belts and pulleys. It was worth going to the festival just to see antique machinery in operation. The pretty young lady in the hat is Emily one of the interns here at Pea Island.

After walking around the festival, we decided to take the ferry to Ocracoke and have lunch so being the gamey bunch that we are, we headed for Ocracoke.



The waterways around the Outer Banks are crowded with boat traffic. One guy even raced the ferry we were on to a channel marker and made the turn around it with about a minute to spare.


If you click on the picture, you will get a better idea of the boat traffic.








If the Coast Guard had boats like these when I was younger, I would probably have joined the Coast Guard instead of the Navy. These are some really neat looking fast boats.







I wouldn't mind having one of these to run around in. Note the three huge engines on the stern. I bet this baby will almost fly.

Emily at the rail of the ferry. She is one super young woman willing to tackle any task assigned to her and very intelligent. Pat and I often discuss how great the three interns Emily, Will and James are. They are all hard working, intelligent, personable and a delight to be near. We are sure that each has a bright future and much happiness ahead of them.

The ferry passed a guy playing with two dogs and a young boy along the shoreline.


The "Wild" Horses of Ocracoke don't appear so "wild" when they are in a corral, but they are pretty and interesting to watch.
This pelican was interesting since we initially thought it was a statue placed on a pileing by the owners of the restaurant where we were eating. We noticed feathers blowing in a light breeze which gave the dozing bird away. He sat motionless for about fifteen minutes before Pat snapped his picture.
A fitting end to a good day playing tourist around an area that we love. Having Emily along was a real plus since we enjoy her company and love her inquisitive mind. It is going to be difficult to see the three interns depart in August. My guess is that there will probably be a few tears shed.
A last photo of the Ocracoke Lighthouse seems like a good way to close this post.