Driving through the backcountry in search of wild horses, a quick burst of movement caught my eye just off the trail in a stand of northern bayberry. We stopped, pulled out the binoculars and began scanning the edge of the shrub thicket. Another flurry of movement produced a young peregrine falcon as she hopped down onto the sand in a small clearing. Our clients set frozen in the safari cruiser, all eyes watching the bird. Immediately we recognized that she was in fact clutching onto a small woodland bird in her talons – a yellow rumped warbler to be exact – and we had stumbled upon a falcon in the middle of its meal. Yellow rumped warblers migrate south to the Outer Banks in fall by the thousands. The individuals of this species that live along the eastern...

Autumn is here. Along these wind swept barrier islands that we call the Outer Banks, seasons are not marked by dates on calendars. In our world, where climate is moderated by things like the Gulf Stream, the Labrador Current, and of course the greatest thermal mass of them all, the ocean, such abstractions as dates hold little sway over the natural cycles along this sandbar. Instead, we mark the passing of seasons by more tangible means. The arrival of blue fish and stripers is one sign. Another is the spotting of humpback whales breaching beyond the outer bar. Ospreys leave, while peregrine falcons return. Scores of birds begin to make their way down along the islands. Some, like the tree swallow travel in flocks of thousands. Others, like bald eagles are simply...

Biologists and naturalists alike often times choose to use what is often referred to as the scientific name when talking about a specific species. To some this may seem rather high brow or elitist with little purpose. No doubt that Latin is a dead language and that the scientific nomenclature can be a bit mysterious to those not steeped in its purpose. On wildlife expeditions, we often times find ourselves discussing the purpose and usefulness of such a naming system. This entry into our Naturalist Notebook will hopefully shed some light on the matter. Some species are what we call “endemic” to a place. That means they are found nowhere else in the world. Take the Outer Banks Kingsnake for instance. Whether you call it by that name or Lampropeltis getula...

In 1585, when Sir Richard Greenville first stepped foot upon the barrier islands of North Carolina, he walked into a world wholly different from the lavish resort communities that we now know as the Outer Banks. Aside from the glitz and trappings of a vacation destination, the barrier islands of the days of English exploration were far more numerous and restless than the seemingly subdued versions we sunburn on today. As mere ribbons of sand, the age old axiom of “change is the only constant” is not simply a cliché on these beaches but a law of physics. With each passing storm, the emerald green waves of the Atlantic that rush upon our beaches turn back another page of history that the sands have hidden beneath their all encompassing embrace. The beaches of...

Dolphins have a pretty amazing way of handling the problem of finding food and finding their way around in the oftentimes murky lightless depths of the world’s oceans – sonar. A lot of folks like to refer to this as echo location, which is really more of a description. Either way though, this is some pretty cool technology that dolphins have been wielding and working out the kinks on for some twenty million years! Basically, dolphins send out a series of sounds – often heard by us as clicks and squeaks. Sound moves 4 times faster in water than it does in air, so navigating by sound makes for a pretty effecient way of doing things. Once the sound hits an object, the sound waves then bounce back. This is why people call it echo location. Humans can hear echos...

Everyone loves shells. Its often times a key feature of folks vacations here on the Outer Banks. Scavenging the beach for the ocean’s treasures is a great way to explore our unique world and spend a little quality time with the family. Out of all of the shells that can be found along our beaches though, it is the whelk that is the most prized, the most coveted, and the most unique. What we call a whelk, you probably call a conch shell. You know, the shell you are supposed to be able to hold up to your ear and hear the ocean? That’s it. Conchs and whelks are pretty much the same thing. Its just that along the coast of the Outer Banks, there is not a conch to be found. Go down south to Florida and the Keys on the other hand, and conchs abound. A good...