After a 10 and a half hour drive from Canandaigua, NY to Nags Head, NC, we made it in around 2:30am. It was a long drive...but well worth it!
We snagged a few hours of sleep, and then were up and at 'em for a tram tour of Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge! It was hosted by Cindy, an educator for the NWR, and she was very knowledgable about the wildlife that lived on the 154,000+ acre refuge, as well as the history and aquisition of the refuge land. For more information about this refuge, visit their website,
Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. I will be posting other information about this amazing place through out the week, as we are exploring! I'll leave off this entry with a photo essay of my first day on the Outer Banks.
American Coots (first years I believe)
American Coots (first years as well)
A flock of American Coots
The wildlife drive that is open to the public. Common wildlife seen: black bears, bobcat, turtles, waterfowl, beaver, muskrat, white-tailed deer. Other species that are resident, but difficult to see: red wolves.
Bobcat scat
American Kestral
American Kestral
Yellow-bellied slider turtle
Yellow-bellied slider turtle
Juvenile Bald Eagle, on the wing!
Juvenile Bald Eagle- I'm attempting to micro-age this bird, from a distance...2nd year (SY)
Juvenile Bald Eagle (SY?)
And to end the day, a sunset off the top deck of the beach house...
...and a gorgeous night-time, moonlit stroll along the beach!
Nice slider!
ReplyDeleteARNWR is a cool place! Surprised you didn't see any bears, to be honest.....
Hope you get over to check out the Red Wolves....
TB: Then there's hope for some BBs. I plan on spending another day or two at least there, and we've gotten some names to get in touch with to do some shadowing. Are you familiar with David Rabon? He's the head wolf bio, and agreed to meet up with us to show us around!
DeleteYour Slider is actually a Painted Turtle..note the smooth vaguely domed shell...the red in the stripes is also more Painted than Slider
ReplyDelete