Sam Bland, our naturalist, returned recently to the home of his heart, his spirit, his soul. Come walk with him on the winter beach as he rediscovers old friends — keyhole urchins and the murex, crystal skippers and fierce antlions.
Our Coast
Coastal Sketch: Bill Birkemeier
As head of the Army Corps of Engineers research center in Duck, this soft-spoken, jazz-loving engineer changed the way we think about the natural forces that shape our ocean beaches. He’s retired after 32 years.
Displaying History Rescued from the Deep
Museums are trying to encourage recreational divers to display a treasure trove of historic artifacts that they salvaged from U-boats sunk off the Outer Banks before it became illegal to do so.
Remembering the Christmas Blizzard of 1989
A series of meteorological quirks had by Christmas Eve that year brought historic snows to the N.C. coast that knocked out power and paralyzed towns.
A Holiday Tradition That’s for the Birds
The National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count begins this weekend on the N.C. coast. For more than 100 years, “citizen scientists” all over the country have scanned the skies counting birds and compiling invaluable data on hundreds of species.
Mistletoe: A Native Plant Steeped in Lore
Our naturalist Sam Bland traces the stories that link this semi-parasitic plant with Christmas and smooching and tells how you can collect your own mistletoe.
Red Wolf Program Ends Its 25th Year
Twenty-five years after the first red wolves were released into the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, the success of the Red Wolf Recovery Program is intertwined in an uneasy relationship with the wolf’s close cousin, the coyote.
Venus Flytrap: History of the ‘Tippitywichit’
A Wilmington historian tells how the world learned of this gloriously peculiar plant that grew in the land of the lower Cape Fear.
The Rachel Carson Reserve
Majestic wild horses are just some of the creatures that inhabit this wildlife oasis just a short paddle from the Beaufort waterfront.
The Comeback of the Wild Turkey
On this Thanksgiving, its seems appropriate to consider the story of our native wild turkeys. Once very rare, they are now everywhere. These birds are at the center of one of the great conservation success stories in state history.
The Humpback of Emerald Isle
An early evening stroll for Sam Bland and Bright Walker brought an unexpected pleasure: a humpback whale cruising the shore, and a moment of community with all who experienced it.
A Shrimper’s Life
This time of year will find Robby and Daniel Midgett plying the waters around their home in Stumpy Point for white shrimp or “green tails.” They wonder, though, how long they’ll be able to do it.
Fall Is Empty Beaches and Showy Skies
Fall on the coast can be magnificent. Cooler temperatures and cooler water make getting outside enjoyable again. Take a stroll along an empty, catch some Spanish for supper and take in the celestial show.
Are the Horseshoe Crabs Telling Us Something?
An unusually high number of small horseshoe crabs started showing up in Stump Sound. That got a noted naturalist thinking about global warming, changing ecosystems and the powers of observation.
Old Light Tower May Get New Life
One of the more unusual deals in the history of Outer Banks real estate closed last week, when a Minnesota businessman signed off with the federal government on the purchase of the Diamond Shoals Light Tower.
The Albatross Fleet
Seventy-five years ago, Ernal Foster of Hatteras had a notion that sportsmen might actually pay to go fishing. The three elegant boats that arose from that simple idea are still taking folks fishing and are now a part of Outer Banks lore.
