Outer Banks Birds, Spurs, and Planes

I’ve been enjoying my time here on the Outer Banks although we’ve been experiencing record cold temps since I’ve been here. For the past 3 nights the temps have dropped down into the upper 20’s with wind chills dipping much lower than that. Brrrrrr. I’m happy to hear we’ll be getting back up into the normal temperature range by tomorrow, which is highs in the mid to upper 50’s, maybe even into the low 60’s. Thanksgoodness the sun has been shining all along.

Before heading out, I thought I take a quick minute to share some of the photos I’ve taken since my last post.

This is a shot of the beach along the Hatteras National Seashore.

The Pea Island Wildlife Refuge attracts all manner of waterfowl.  Take a look.

We’ll begin with the Brown Pelican who I found overseeing the local Recycling Center.

And  next, a group of Snow Geese.

And here we have the Great Egret.

And finally the Ibis.

Up the Coast a bit is Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina where Orville and Wilbur Wright made history.  I visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial and took this photo of the 2003 replica mentioned below.

The Wright Brothers National Memorial commemorates the first successful, sustained, powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine. From 1900 to 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright came here from Dayton, Ohio, based on information from the U.S. Weather Bureau about the area’s steady winds. They also valued the privacy provided by this location, which in the early twentieth century was remote from major population centers
On December 17, 2003, the Centennial of Flight was celebrated at the Park. The ceremony was hosted by flight enthusiast John Travolta, and included appearances by President George W. Bush, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Chuck Yeager. The Centennial Pavilion was built for the celebration and today houses exhibits showing the Outer Banks at the turn-of-the-century, the development of the 2003 replica, and NASA provided displays on aviation and flight.f
An interactive sculpture was donated by the State of North Carolina and dedicated during the celebration. The life-sized sculpture is a full-sized replica of 1903 flyer the moment the flight began and includes the Wright Brothers along with members of the Kill Devils Hills Life-Saving Station who assisted in moving the aircraft, as well as John T. Daniels who took the now famous photograph of the first flight.  Learn more at http://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm

And now to the spurs.  I distinctly remember the tiny but highly painful sandspurs common to east coast beaches.  You can see one of them in the picture below.  Misty, Mosely, nor I care for them in the least however, our time here led us to the discovery of a previously unknown (to us) breed of sand spur.  These are of prehistoric proportions as you can see.  Poor Mosely came out the dunes one day looking like he had been in a tussle with a porcupine.  Ouch!  After that, I tried to curtail their forays into the bush and attempted to remain on the sandy, spur free paths.

That’s it for now.  Today I take the Ferry over to Ocracoke Island and into the land of Edward Teach aka Blackbeard the Pirate, so stay tuned.