A sailboat is anchored in the cut near Sugarloaf Island along the Morehead City waterfront in Carteret County, with two cargo ships shown berthed at the North Carolina Port of Morehead City in the background. Photo: Dylan Ray
Sometimes it is easy being green
A green anole, the United States’ only native anole, hunts near a row of agapanthus Monday in a Beaufort garden. Photo: Dylan Ray
Slow-motion takeoff
A great blue heron takes flight from an oyster bed at low tide near Russell Creek in Carteret County. These large birds, often called cranes, walk and beat their wings slowly and can be found near all kinds of waters all over North America, according to the Audubon Field Guide. Photo: Dylan Ray
Left exposed
Low tide exposes clusters of oysters clinging to the piles supporting the Morehead City-Beaufort high-rise bridge over the Newport River and near the Radio Island Fishing Pier. Photo: Dylan Ray
Color in the canopy
A yellow-bellied sapsucker forages on a rose bush Wednesday near Russell Creek north of Beaufort in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
Into the mist
Two unidentified people paddle a dinghy into the cut near Sugarloaf Island from the Morehead City waterfront on a recent foggy morning in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
Sandy strides
A beach walker heads west along Bogue Banks near the dune line at Fort Macon State Park in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
Washing up for the holidays
A strong southeast wind, heavy rains and an especially high tide combine to create a pool reaching from the ocean to the showers on the west side of the Oceanana Fishing Pier Thursday in Atlantic Beach. While not a king tide, which are the highest high- and lowest low-tide events of the year and happen when the Earth, sun and moon are aligned while the moon is at its perigee, or closest point in its elliptical orbit to Earth, Dec. 26-25 is a period of higher- and lower-than-normal tides. The the lunar perigee is Dec. 24. Photo: Dylan Ray
Feeding frenzy
Flocks of pelican and cormorant chase a bait ball of fish along the shoreline of Atlantic in Down East Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
Swell vantage point
Pigeons take refuge from the wind Wednesday as an unidentified surfer cruises along the face of a wave at the Oceanana Fishing Pier on Bogue Banks in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
High water in Sea Level
The waters of Styron Creek in Sea Level are pushed by high winds Monday onto Cedar Creek Road blocking access to a fish house in Down East Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
Strategic suspension
The silken egg sac of a spider is strategically suspended against a yucca spine along Carteret County’s Bogue Banks. Photo: Dylan Ray
Shrimp buffet
A wedge of egrets hunts shrimp in the salt marsh along the Newport River in Mill Creek in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
Harkers Island bridge construction progresses
The sun sets last week behind the $60 million bridge under construction between Straits and Harkers Island in Carteret County. The project, which began in late 2021, is to replace two bridges that connect Harkers Island and the mainland, including the Earl C. Davis Memorial Bridge. Photo: Dylan Ray
Backyard beauty
A swallowtail butterfly peeks around the blossom of a Mexican sunflower Tuesday in a garden near Russell Creek in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
Winding waters
The waters of upper Ward Creek near Otway in Down East Carteret County are shown in this Thursday aerial. The creek flows into the North River where its meets water from the ocean to create conditions considered favorable for tasty oysters. Photo: Dylan Ray
