Final thoughts of North Carolina!

(FIRST, I was just informed by Blogger that I've exceeded my storage space. Picasa is all full. And now I have to pay for GB? Anyone have any tips around this, or another host?)



Last night I wrote an entry from school, because my computer was getting fixed, cleaned out, and reformatted. Today I got 'er back and I'm ready to finish up sharing the end of my spring break vacation.

As a final "hoorah" Mady and I decided to head back to Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge for one last sunset drive on Friday, 3/16/12.

As we were just about to pull off the highway, and onto the Wildlife Drive, we noticed several cars pulled to the side of the road. We of course hit the breaks, turned on the hazards and got out to see what the fuss was...

Photo credit: Mady Alfieri

 AN 11' AMERICAN ALLIGATOR!

Photo credit: Mady Alfieri

Somehow the only pictures I lost in the drama of my technology failures, were the alligator pics. Lucky for me, I had a great wildlife-photographing friend with me! Thanks to Mady for sharing with me and on my blog. This alligator is an old female that has claimed this canal/ditch as her own. The staff at ARNWR know her well, and had told us to watch for her earlier in the week. This channel is miles long, and has little tributaries off of it, so I thought there was no way we'd actually SEE a 'gator. Before last week, I didn't even know they lived as far north as North Carolina!

As we pulled in and got on "our road" that's proven successful to us earlier in the week, we noticed that the water level in the irrigation ditches was really drawn down. Noticeably since we had started visiting earlier in the week! And Mady noticed the below, a little reddish 'coon rooting around in the mud. As soon as we stopped to take pictures of him on the ground, he treed...but still gave us some nice shots!

I've never seen a red panda or a coati first hand, BUT this little guy seemed very reminiscent of them both. After all, they're all cousins! He's also very red, which maybe just a color variation of THIS 'coon...or maybe 'coons are redder in the south?

Unknown

Unknown

Yellow-bellied slider (?)

Sunset at the Refuge

Unknown

Buffalo City trail

Buffalo City trail 

Loblolly pine (?)

Along the boardwalk were really informative signs about the local flora and fauna. It was very interesting to learn about a totally new complex of wetland species. Granted above, the cattail, is quite common..everywhere. But there was mountain laurel, loblolly pine, sweet gum, ferns, and many other plants that I knew nothing about.

We found this plaque in a pine, and I'm unsure of how old it is. It SEEMS older with the use of the word "game".

And our wildlife vacation is coming to an end. How fitting to find this sign at the end of the trail.

Warbler species, unknown. We "pshed" it in!

ARNWR did not disappoint us on our last evening!

That's the last of my photos from an awesome trip. Can't wait to do it again!

Love & Spring is in the Air! Camera Trapping Heaven.

Hello, hello!

Since my last blog posting, literally minutes after I hit "Publish",...my computer became horribly infected with a wormy virus. All files (school documents and pictures primarily) appeared to have disappeared forever. To my chagrin, tech support of the company I purchased the laptop was NOT helpful in anyway...but a friend sent me a lovely link that walked me step-by-step through rediscovering my hidden files, backing them up externally, and then removing the virus. I was able to do steps 1 and 2, but 3 had me bringing my computer to Staples yesterday morning to leave it to get reformatted and fixed. Because of this, I am without my photo editing software for a few days...and I have the last day of my NC Spring Break vacation that I wanted to share...including a large and awesome mega-fauna that I saw the last night. For now, I'm blogging from school :)

But, for now, I'll share some awesome camera trap photos that I've been neglectful on sharing. Just too much going on!

These pics will be from both the tail end of my Outer Banks trip, and then weeks 5 & 6 from my field study at the Muller Field Station.

Domestic cat

Domestic cat #2

Virginia opossum

And my favorite friend of the week, Urocyon cinereoargenteus, the gray fox.

And here he/she is again! After having never gotten a gray fox on cameras that I personally set, I was so excited to have visits from this one night after night. I baited at first with Kishel's 'Crossbreed' a carnivore/predator food call lure. Stink-y. Then I poured some bacon grease, and threw a couple chunks of rotten coconut out. This kept the critters coming back :)

Last camera-trapped picture of the week, an opossum.

I did move this camera to the Nags Head Woods Nature Preserve a few miles away, where I saw the nutria...hoping for THAT new species. I realize to the locals, nutria are nasty, invasive pests. To me though, lover of (almost) all wildlife, this critter was on my bucket list. I was so excited to have observed them here, and baited my camera with apples and pears. I have pictures of the set up, on my external hard drive, at home. I always like to take a 'before' and 'after' shot of my sites so that I can remember what the setup looked like and if it worked.

Well, the next day when Mady and I went back to the secret spot to retrieve the camera and pics...all fruit was gone. We were ECSTATIC. What else could've eaten all that fruit? No 'chucks in the area, or beaver (surprisingly)...so it had to be nutria. And then the ol' camera malfunction occured. One picture. Of me retrieving it. I don't understand! It was at the correct height and distance from the bait...and no pictures. Stupid nutria probably covered the lens with a paw. Next time nutria, next time.

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Moving on...

I came back to check my cameras on this GORGEOUS March Monday the 19th. The last time I was at the Muller Field Station was March 5th. Two weeks ago today, the temperature was 16*F. Today was 65*F. WHAT a difference, I was actually breaking a sweat while resetting my cameras! No complaints here though.

Red fox

White-tailed deer

White-tailed deer

Can you believe this? MARCH and a buck with antlers?! I hope he drops them nearby so I can find them!

Mystery critter?

A pair of 'coons! First time I've ever gotten more than one raccoon at a time. Joe at Massanutten Game Trails has awesome pics of herds of 'coon. I'll settle for two :)

Another NEW species for me: muskrat! Can you pick him out?

A red fox with dinner for the family? It's got to be about that time when females are ready to pop, and looking for a good den...

Another gorgeous red fox pic, in the daylight! What a gorgeous coat...

Eastern coyote (this guy seems bigger and burlier to me than the red wolves I saw last week...)

White-tailed deer in motion...anyone else get a blur with fast motion in front of your cams?

Wild turkey! Another newbie! Please watch the following video, and watch til the end :)

Another pair!

Canada Geese...and yet ANOTHER pair! Is Spring in the air or WHAT? Makes me think of my beloved childhood movie, Bambi.

Raccoon

NAUGHTY opossum chewing in the scent pad again...I wonder if this is a repeat offender?

Another critter picking dinner on the way home from work. Gray squirrel

And THAT is that. Alot of pictures, and I didn't even share HALF of them! I need to spend mucho time going through all that video- never skip out on video, and always watch til the end! Thank goodness they're only 30 second clips at a time.

Until the next time!

Pea Island, NC & Cape Hatteras Adventures!

Yesterday (3/13/2012) was overcast and a bit drizzly, so we decided to get in the car and take a mini roadtrip south to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. We had no idea where we were going (Thank you, Garmin for being my co-pilot!) and just drove, stopping here and there along Route 12 where ever looked interesting. This whole week has been dedicated to searching out wildlife and local "natural" places that we could explore, and we found some neat stuff! We've seen all of the mammal species, except one (bob-the-cat), that we set out to see, and countless birds, herps, and invertebrates!

Scallop shells, Oregon Inlet

Gull, Oregon Inlet

Oregon Inlet

Jellyfish

Mady and a little crab she found!

Unknown critter tracks...I want to say river otter. Thoughts?

Close-up of the same tracks.

Different mammal tracks on the left, Gull tracks on the right...

Sea urchin exoskeleton

Muskrat

Muskrat

Muskrat

The lighthouse! The last time I visited Cape Hatteras, the lighthouse was jacked up and in the process of being moved!

White-tailed deer fawn

WTD fawn...just about losing her spots!

The fawn checking me out!

Mom with a mouth full!

The fawn again!

Uknown cactus species

Another unknown species...found in the dunes, the first wildflower I've seen this season!

Uknown track

Same tracks...still unknown...

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

7 mile bridge

And that wraps up yesterday's adventures! I have a GREAT blog to write about today's experiences at ARNWR, but that will take some time to write and edit the pictures.

If anyone has any thoughts about the tracks, please share. I have my opinions, but I can't make sense of them. I'm confused about terrestrial possibly semi-aquatic (freshwater) mammals hanging out on the shore...any thoughts, do tell!