Just bouncing around

We finally got to go over to Ocracoke Island for a  visit. The Ferry line had been running around 4 hours all summer so after three tries this past season , we made it. The Banker Ponies are looking pretty healthy this year.

We always love seeing the Brown Pelicans . We did get to band some this season and it's just awesome to handle these really gentile birds. We will miss doing that next year as we will be coming back to Pea Island much later next year .

Did a visit to historic Jamestown and the first stop is always the Glass house. It was nice to see the Glass Blowers are back to making all the glass that's being sold in the Glass House gift shop. We had been there in the past and a good portion of the glass that was sold was not made there. Wish we could say the same for the other gift shops at the site.

With all the site work going on at Jamestown , it's nice to see that she is still at the entrance to welcome us back.

The church was open and for the first time ever there was a APVA fellow there to give a tour. It was interesting to listen to his take on what happened there as there was a number of digs going on and the folks doing them had a much different take on the events that took place there.

Lauren and our friend Emily back in what we used to say was our garden in Williamsburg.

For those of us who spent 30 years doing 18th century Living history the display on the courthouse green was sad to see. What surprised me was they were portraying the Yorktown siege time period and it was shameful. We did several large events there and they said they couldn't do ant more as their time period was the 1740's and not the Rev War period.

The Cross at the Museum where they now have on display of the skeleton that had been cannibalized.

The new permeate market by the Magazine , this is where the original one was located. It really does look out of place there.

The fife and Drum are as good as we remembered ,but the number of them is down 8.

Sitting in front of our old house . All I need is a beverage.

Sunrise at Pea Island during the Wings Over Water Festival . We did the morning welcome for all the birder's who arrived at 6:30 AM to do one of the many early programs that were offered.

A young Cedar Waxwing  that hung out by the VC for the 5 days we were on the Front Porch.

Having a little break between programs.

Lauren helping out with the Red Wolf Holing program. The Intern who takes care of the Wolves gives the talk and then leads a caravan of personal vehicles to a remote location on the Refuge and get the Wolves to howl for several minutes. It's very neat to take part as we were the last vehicle in the caravan and had to stop and lock the gates back up as we passed through. Very ,very dark on a night with no moonlight. For us we had heard the Wolves howl many times as when were evacuated to Alligator River when the hurricane was supposed to hit.

It's been awhile, between the Windows 10 diaster and the almost Hurricane ,I don't know which was the bad one.

Arriving on the beach where we are going to band some Terns. We had never done Turns and as we would actually do the banding ourselves we were really excited to do this trip.



Some of the parent Terns are a little upset with us. They really didn't want us there and swirled around above us doing what birds do best in large numbers. Poo . We did not escape the bombing runs without some thing to show for all their hard work.

At every step we have to be really careful as their nest are just small holes in the sand and these little ones at this stage cannot even move their heads .

As we move over the Island we start to see groups of young clustering with a brave parent who has stayed despite our being there. Just for the record the little ones don't hurt when the bite, on the other hand the adults will really give you a good nip if you let them.

As the clusters get larger we herd them like cattle to a central location to start the banding process. But of course herding them is more like herding cats than herding cattle.

Scared and tired they move onto the beach and try to escape.

And then the banding begins Just a pair of pliers that look like a Sta Kon tool and just had me a bird ,a quick crimp and then just let them down easy and off to find their mom. The Biologist said the parent has no trouble find their babies.

Lauren holding a little one to tired to leave after being banded. We did around 6 thousand birds on this trip with Lauren and I doing almost 2 thousand of them. Really beat after spending 6 hours doing them. But loved every minute of it.

Cape Hatteras Light house has a new area set aside now for all the old foundation stones with all the light keepers names carved into them. The stones have been hid away for the last few years as a decision had to made as to where to display them and nothing moves fast with the NPS.

A beautiful day at the beach. So deceiving as the sand was so hot it could blister the bottoms of your feet if you didn't move fast enough.

Our arrival at the Pelican Rookery Island was not well received by the parents. It was a mass exodus of adult who also did a few fly by bombing runs over us before settling in just of the island and waited for us to go.

The young are so gentle and really are very easy to handle. Their only defense is to poo or throw up their last meal of funky fish on you as you pick them up. Still worth it to hold them.

Lauren getting a baby ready for banding.

Just out of the shell and are to cute and very fragile.

One just out and the other one piping as we watched. Can't band these little ones but really something to watch.

As we moved across the Island we found several Cormorant nests mixed in with the Pelicans. We learned that they often nest right along side of the Pelicans and they all take care of each other.

Holding the young Cormorants we found  their feathers feel almost like fur. Very smooth and we also learned they don't have oil glands like ducks do , so that's the reason after they do their diving to feed they have to stay out of the water and hold their wings open to dry them.

A group or Turns swirl around us as we moved across the Pelican Rookery.

One of the parents flies over us on a bombing run as they are trying to get us t leave the nesting area. We managed to not get hit. Really lucky for us, not so for a few of the others in our party.

Laure consoling some of the little one.

Yea,  I know who is going to get banded next, Sorry but it has to be done.

Cutie wanting to go after the deer eating out of our bird feeder.

Lauren at our FWS display at a First Friday program in Manteo. We always have a good time talking to the passers by as in most cases it's the local residents who come by. Always an eye opener on their view of US Fish and Wildlife Service and what their government dollars are being spent on. Some times we just have a good laugh when they leave.

A mom and two cubs just enjoying their afternoon stroll down one of the not so traveled roads on the Alligator River Refuge. We also spend some time their , some really good and some not when we were evacuated from Pea Island when the Weather Channel had the world coming to and end when the hurricane was first predicted to come ashore in NC and we needed to be off the beach. There was some minor flooding on Pea Island an yes the road was closed for 5 days , but that happens here all the time and such is life when you live on a sand bar.

Mom is taking the little ones off to munch on the part of the corn field that has just been picked and there is plenty of corn that the machines have missed.

Another bear looking over the soybeans and looking for the best spot to settle in for some good eats.

As the sun sets over the marsh in Manns Harbor a really cool thing is going to happen.

Around a hundred thousand Purple Martins start to come out of the surrounding marshes and begin to settle in on their nests under the bridge . There are so many birds at Sunrise and Sunset that they have to lower the speed limit on the bridge as to not kill thousands of birds in one pass.

As they start to swirl around and around the bridge the flapping of their wings start to drown out all the other noises as their chirping becomes just one low back round noise. As it gets really dark all you can see is the glow from their eyes and then it just becomes quiet. It was just so amazing to witness this wonder of nature.

We also did a school program last week at the local Community Collage for all the 3rd and 4ht grade schools in Manteo. It was a good day as we knew what to expect. We had done this last year at the same place. It was a different experience as ll the children walked to the be at the program. Some walked over a half hour to get there, it seems that busing to all programs no matter how close they are is not and option here. You have to love the attitude of the school administrator's . They have feet and they can walk.

We also did some costumes for the kids. Of course the Fire service come with Smokey the Bear and our Blue  Goose for FWS and some big dummy as the Tuttle . Those costumes are really hot .

Some Cedar Waxwings in the berry bushes in front of the Pea Island VC

Our bird feeder deer strikes a pose by the bird feeder for me. Yea, I know it needs some more seed.

Cutie still hoping.

The Waxwing catching some reflections from the berry bush



We are at the first day of the Refuges Wings Over Water week long Birding Fest and the Grackles have already figured out that when the Birders eat donuts and muffins they leave behind lots of crumbs. Lauren and I man the early morning Hospitality Station at Pea Island and I really don't know who is more entertaining , the folks we get to talk to or the birds who have figured out the free meal they can have when we are not paying attention.