Valentines Day in Hatteras, NC

For Valentines Day we spent the weekend in the outer banks.  We did a little four wheeling on the beach in my brand new 1994 Jeep Wrangler YJ!! Brian and I stayed in cute cabanas on the beach. They were all one room cabins on stilts and were privately owned so each one had its own personality! When we got to Hatteras National Seashore, we checked out the light house and the snow started coming down! Quite a sight!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Cape Hatteras Light and heavy snow coming down"][/caption]

When we got to the tip of Hatteras, where all the fisherman usually are.....we sat and watched hundreds of thousands of Great Comorants fly in from the south in the snow. We were so amazed! We drove around a little on the beach, but it was cloudy and snowing so we decided to head to the Cabana for the night. We had homemade meatballs and rice. yum! The snow finally stopped and the moon came out. It was beautiful!

The next day, we went back to the seashore and drove on the beach a little more.  I was kind of hoping to see purple sandpipers. But instead I saw a Black-bellied Plover! I probably have seen these guys before, just didn't know what they were. This little one was hanging out near lots of seagulls and sanderlings all by itself.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="319" caption="Lone Black-bellied Plover"][/caption]

I was also pleased to see the Forster's Tern return. They have such tiny legs!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Forster's Terns Preening"][/caption]

A couple of months ago, we found a short trail that went behind the dunes. We usually see a small family of deer back here. They had two little ones with them this time. I coudln't get a shot with all of their heads up! This little one ran right out in front of the jeep! I read that Hatteras has tiny deer like Florida has, but I'm not sure if this is just a white-tailed deer. Cute little deer - isn't it?

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Tiny Deer"][/caption]

I think it is so fun to watch the little sanderlings searching for anything they can hide behind to protect them from the wind... just to catch a light snooze.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Sanderlings hiding from the wind"][/caption]

We Left Hatteras to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. My FAVORITE place!! I could never get tired of this refuge. Always tons and tons of birds.... AND GUESS WHAT?!? I FINALLY GOT TO SEE SNOW GEESE! Oh I can't begin to tell you how excited I was! Brian and I were driving to the parking lot of pea Island and I about had a heart attack. They were literally 50 ft away. I made him pull over on the side of the road so I could capture the moment but most of them flew away when we stopped.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="My winter goal - to Photograph Snow Geese!"][/caption]

After snapping a couple shots, hoping at least one was in focus, We headed up Route 12 to Pea Island's parking lot...

OH MY GOD BRIAN PULL OVER!!!!

A bittern was on the side of the road... Literally on the side of the road.  I couldn't believe it! I made him turn around and creep up slowly  so I could snap a shot of this elusive bird. A lifer for me.... I've heard their distinctive mating call at my camper, but have never seen one. I managed to snap a few shots before he did a really cool move into the reeds. We took off, only to see another only 15 ft away!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="377" caption="American Bittern - A Lifer Bird"][/caption]

When I got home  and reviewed my pictures, I had in fact seen 5 that day! WOW! Bitterns will freeze, stretch their necks up with bill to the sky and sway side to side to imitate reeds! neat huh? Another lifer bird for me was the White Pelican. I'm sure people see them all the time, but I have never seen one of these birds before. They were so HUGE!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="White Pelican in Flight - Breeding Male (Lifer)"][/caption]

Once we made it to Pea Island's parking lot. We set out to walk the trail. There were tons of birds! Tundra Swans, Shovelers, Pintails, Weigons, Coots, Mallards, Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers, Egrets, Blue herons, and lots of Brown Pelicans. I think they dive for fish very oddly.... I watched one fall to the surface of the water and PLOP! I thought he was dead! But he had an awesome catch apparently!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Pelican Gobbling down his catch"][/caption]

I Enjoyed watching the Buffleheads forage. There were so many at the refuge. I think pictured here is a juvenile and a female. Maybe mom is teaching the little one to dive for food? Anyways, it has a pretty nice size frog!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Buffleheads - One with a Frog Dinner!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Pretty Female Bufflehead"][/caption]

It was sort of a windy day, so we didn't walk the whole trail. On our way back we saw tons of white ibis. I have never seen a juvenile. They sure are different looking.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Juvenile White Ibis with two Adults"][/caption]

I had a really great birding weekend!  I've only seen ring-necked ducks at Pea Island one other time, but they were too far away to photograph. I had a couple swim close to me while walking the trail. I'm happy I could get them together in a picture! :)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Sweet Ring-necked duck couple"][/caption]

Brian treated me to a very nice weekend for Valentines Day. What more could a girl want - Birding, Beach Cabin and Four-wheeling in her new JEEP!? Hell yah!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Brian in my 1994 Classic YJ Jeep Wrangler "][/caption]

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge

Alligator River NWR is absolutely beautiful. They have paddling trails, wildlife drive trails, and nature trails, where you might be fortunate enough to see black bears, alligators, or even red wolves! We've been here before...We just wanted to come down again to explore all of the driving trails on 154,000 acres! We did a little "four wheeling" on some of the more muddy and over grown trails. It was a beautiful sunny day!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Brian's muddy TJ from wildlife trails"][/caption]

We were really hoping to see alligators, but it was cold. My dad had visited Alligator River a couple weeks earlier and he told me he saw one... so I know they are here, but I'm sure we won't see any till this summer. I also wanted t0 see SNOW GEESE! Brian and I over heard a man talking about seeing them here when we were at Pea Island NWR. Unfortunately we didn't see any.  We saw lots of Tundra Swans, Northern Pintails, and Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. Most of them where too far away to photograph.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="391" caption="Lone Tundra Swan "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Tundra Swan Family :)"][/caption]

The winter has been really cold this year! Today, it was a little warm and in the upper 50's. All of the Tree Swallows were going nuts over all the little gnats hovering in the sunshine. I managed to capture a couple of neat shots.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Tree Swallow hovering over water"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Tree Swallow swooping in for a gnat snack"][/caption]

While driving on the wildlife trails.  We saw lots and lots of red-tailed hawks. One flew directly over top of the jeep.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Red Tailed Hawk scanning for food"][/caption]

And while I was taking pictures of the Red-tailed, a tree swallow landed right in front of our jeep, and wouldn't move!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Stubborn Tree Swallow"][/caption]

We enjoyed our sunny day at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. I can't wait to visit in the spring and summer and maybe I'll get to see some gators or even a Red Wolf! till then...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Kestrel "][/caption]

Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge & Nine Inches of Snow

Hampton Roads saw about 9-10 inches of snow. We hardly EVER get that much snow.. If it even snows at all...Anyways Brian and I went four-wheeling of course!! We didn't want to drive to far in the snow, so we went to Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge again. It's such a beautiful area, I love the trails! The snow was an extra bonus...helping in spotting those smaller birds, we usually overlook.

Best part of snow! Dark-eyed Juncos!

When we woke up...we were so excited to see so much snow on the ground! We just couldn't wait to take the jeep out to play in the snow! We drove to my dads house and watched the birds at his neighbors feeder. There were SO many! We saw Tuft Titmouse, House Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Juncos, Chickadees. At that moment, I got my father into birds. He was so excited, talking about what kind of feeder he should get, and asking about bird books and so on... Oh it was awesome! Hope he really gets into it! It's just an awesome hobby not to mention CHEEP! lol After we left my dads, we drove around Virginia Beach and had Lunch at The Jewish Mother.

Robin Foraging Berries from a Red Cedar Tree

A very cold White-throated Sparrow

After Driving around checking out the pretty white snow in Virginia Beach, We headed to our original destination.

Snowy Sand Dune - Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Egret foraging in a ditch - Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Gray Catbird

I've never seen a Brown Thrasher, It was pretty interesting watching  it forage with its beak in the mud! Do you see the mud on it's beak?

Brown Thrasher with Muddy Beak from foraging

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Brown thrasher having a sip of melted snow"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Chick-a-dee-dee-dee singing its little heart out"][/caption]

The snow was fun, and we ended up at a snow party with four wheelers and friends! We had a wonderful weekend!

Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge & Hatteras Seashore, NC

We love going down to Hatteras. It's only about a two hour drive.  A beautiful place to visit - even in the off-season! We have such a blast seeing all the birds and four-wheelin' on the beach!  The weather was a bit cloudy and very windy with a few stray showers... Pretty much normal for this time of year. The sun did peek out a few times, which was so nice! We visited Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and Hatteras National Seashore on Saturday and Sunday and Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on our way home Sunday. We decided to take a different route in hopes of seeing a bear or an alligator! We didn't see either this time. DARN IT!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Very Angry Atlantic Ocean"][/caption]

Saturday was a windy overcast day. We stopped at Pea Island to check the birds. We knew we weren't going to stay long the first day because it was just way too windy, too cold and too cloudy! I managed to snag a few pictures of birds I've never photographed before!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Green-winged Teals"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Northern Pintail"][/caption]

I also saw a White Ibis! I was so excited! I had never seen one before!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="White Ibis coming in for landing"][/caption]

AND American Avocets!

Our first day  on the National Seashore we wanted to go on the Ocracoke Ferry. We were five minutes late catching the four o'clock ferry. The voyage is about an hour and it would have been dark by the time we got back....we really needed to get a hotel. The ferry is right across the street from the Southern most beach access on the National Seashore so we went four-wheeling.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Sea of Seagulls"][/caption]

Once we got to the "tip" of Hatteras Island, there was about 50,000 seagulls...All different kinds! It was a sight! We also spotted three White tails playing in the dunes

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="White Tailed Deer Checking The Area"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Dunlin and tattered sand bag"][/caption]

As always there were several fisherman on the "tip" It's so neat to watch them tackle the huge waves and have a good ol' time casting out, praying for that record breaker catch! But this day there was a beggar... going from truck to truck to see what he could get thrown to him.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Beach Beggar"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Handsome Brown Pelican ready for take off!"][/caption]

We got out of the jeep for a bit and looked for sand dollars, Whelk shells, and Moon snails. While walking, we spotted a oystercatcher. I just love their bright beaks and they are really interesting to watch in action! I also snapped a quick shot of the Hatteras light.

American Oystercatcher

Hatteras Lighthouse

We stayed in an amazing hotel Called "Breakwater Inn" I'm not into hotels that have too much. But this hotel was just right. We had an amazing view of the sound and the sunset.... Also a restaurant, a grocery store less than 30 seconds up the road and it was very clean!! Great Prices and Great off-season rates!

The next morning when we woke up we decided to do some more four-wheeling on the beach and slowly make our way to back to Pea Island so I could catch the birds while the sun was out. Another storm was on the way...Once we made it to Pea Island, there must have been 30,000 or more Tundra Swans. They were literally everywhere!!

Tundra Swans Preening

I saw more Ibis. I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to see these little guys... I didn't realize they were up this way!

L to R: Blue Heron, Great Egret, & Two Ibis (one's on a nest!)

We saw Tons of coots, Northern Shovelers, and Black Ducks. It was fun watching the coots play! While walking the trail we caught some Ruddy Ducks catching a light snooze ;)

Ruddy Ducks Sleeping

I have never seen a Tricolored Heron. Nor did I ever expect I would see one. Anyways, I happened to be looking for Black Stilts and I spotted this guy! Score!

Tricolored Heron

We took a different route home, and headed towards Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. It's a really neat place for birders as well. Except this is a drive through refuge, rather than trail only. We saw tons of Tundra Swans, Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, and lots of tree swallows. I love this place, and can't wait till the season starts so I can explore it deeper. We only skimmed the park a little, because we were on our way home and didn't want to get home too late. We had an amazing Weekend as always! Support your local National Wildlife Refuges and National/State Parks by visiting OFTEN!! They need you!

Greater Yellowlegs

Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Bay Trail Overlook"][/caption]

It rained this morning, so we went to Sam's Club and the mall to find me  a jewelery box. When we left the mall, the sun was shining and it was 70 out! What a surprise to such a gray day! We figured we shouldn't waste a perfectly beautiful Sunday. I suggested going down to Sandbridge for a couple of hours. I forgot how much Sandbridge has changed...Big Condos EW! What happened to the pretty secret beach of Virginia Beach? I blame it on travel magazines and the news paper. I remember when I was a kid, the long road of awesome simple beach houses ending in a small park with Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and False Cape State Park. Now, you can't even see past the big eye sore of brightly colored condos at the end of the street right before Little Island City Park.

Still, Back Bay is absolutely breath-taking. It's hard to believe that we have amazing little spots in Virginia Beach like we do. I love this area! with the temperature difference being so great in the past couple of days, there was a very neat fog throughout the marshy refuge.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Layers of fog"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Backbay Fog"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Rain clouds rolling out"][/caption]

We set out to walk the "Bay Trail" I was hoping to see a few Red Winged Black Birds, but I didn't. In my last condo there were Red Wings everywhere! Sometimes, on time! lol

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Bay Trail"][/caption]

Back Bay Refuge has over 9,000 acres, situated on and around a thin strip of coastline  of barrier islands found along the Atlantic coast. The refuge also provides habitat for a wide variety wildlife, including threatened and endangered species such as Loggerhead Sea Turtles, Piping Plovers, Peregrine Falcons, and Bald Eagles!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Brian taking pictures"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="I can hear Swans! but I cant see them! darn it."][/caption]

We headed back down the Bay Trail and Saw a few Swallows and Yellow-rumped Warblers.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Yellow-rumped Warbler"][/caption]

Once we got back to the parking lot, we decided to walk the Dune Trail down to the beach....Just to check it out.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Protect Natures natural barriers! STAY OFF THE DUNES!!!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Windy foggy and cold Sandbridge"][/caption]

There was a 20 degree difference! The wind was blowing so hard it felt like needles! We walked quickly back to the Jeep to get warm and head home. A great day!

please read my other post about Back Bay NWR - Back Bay & 9inches of snow!