A juvenile anole, or Anolis carolinensis, sneaks a peek at its surroundings from a vantage point beneath a hosta leaf in a Beaufort garden near Russell Creek in Carteret County. Sometimes described as “American chameleons,” anoles can be found across the state’s coastal plain and southern Piedmont regions, can live as long as eight in the wild, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. They can also leap distances of up to 12 inches. Photo: Dylan Ray
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Preflight checklist includes sunning
A great blue heron positions its wings not for flight but to sunbathe Monday morning at the end of the Runway 26 at Michael J. Smith Field in Beaufort. According to the Audubon Society’s Field Guide, the species thrives around “waters from subtropical mangrove swamps to desert rivers to the coastline of southern Alaska.” Here, they most prefer marshes, swamps, shorelines and tidal flats, or an occasional coastal airfield. Photo: Dylan Ray
Surfers get an early start
Kristen Fulmer of Mebane submitted this photo made on a peaceful morning earlier this year at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. “The soft morning light reflected across the wet sand as surfers made their way into the water near the pier,” Fulmer noted with her submitted photo. “I loved how the silhouettes of the surfers, the waves, and the hazy light came together to capture the calm feeling of an early morning on the North Carolina coast.”
Cooler weather foreshadows welcome fall
A squall line moves quickly across the Newport River toward Bogue Banks and Onslow Bay in Carteret County Saturday afternoon, when the National Weather Service says the high in the Newport-Morehead City area reached 93. Temperatures Sunday and Monday were cooler, in the mid- to upper-80s, but highs in the 90s are forecast to return later this week, and fall begins in two weeks. Photo: Dylan Ray
Nature reveals golden moment over Cedar Island
The sun sets behind a cloudbank Saturday as shown from above the Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge off Lola Road on Cedar Island in Carteret County that was established in 1964 occupies 14,494 acres on a peninsula jutting into southern Pamlico Sound, with N.C. Highway 12 slicing through and the 5,500 acres the state conserved in 2019 just to the east. Both offer opportunities to immerse one’s self into nature, such as hiking, paddling, birding and nature viewing, as well as numerous other activities. Photo: Dylan Ray
Squalls on the horizon, from way up high
Humidity fills the air west of the Jonathan Robinson Bridge, creating a series of summer squalls that shower eastern Carteret County. Forecasters with the National Weather Service on Tuesday advised of hazardous weather conditions, particularly for eastern Carteret County, Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Island with scattered strong to severe thunderstorms possible late Tuesday in advance of a cold front. Photo: Dylan Ray
Sunny surveillance
A lynx spider covertly watches as a pollinator bee forages on a sunflower blossom in a garden near Russell Creek in Beaufort. Photo: Dylan Ray
Drought creates feeding trough
The state’s ongoing drought is affecting water levels in the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s North River Wetland Preserve near Otway, where wading birds take advantage of conditions recently to feed on the fish, tadpoles, frogs and aquatic insects left with nowhere to go. Nearly the entire state was facing drought conditions at the time this was published, with most of the coast in moderate drought with increasing severity toward New Hanover and Brunswick counties and the western portions of most other coastal counties.
Early morning angler
Case Skinner, 4, son of Kathleen and Jeremy Skinner, fishes from his parents’ dock on on the Newport River in Mill Creek, an unincorporated community in central Carteret County. The young Skinner is also accomplished with a cast net. Photo: Jeremy Skinner
Pit viper stare-down
Two cottonmouths, aka water moccasins and known scientifically as Agkistrodon piscivorus, came face to face while foraging Sunday at the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s 6,000-acre North River Wetlands Preserve, with one rising up and the other backing down. One of six venomous snakes in North Carolina, the cottonmouth is the most aquatic, preferring wetter habitats. It’s a pit viper, having a pit on its face that senses heat. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission offers tips on how to coexist with snakes. Photo: Doug Waters
Mr. Blue has eyes for you
A brightly hued eastern bluebird peeks out from a knothole in a tree at the Dare County Arboretum and Teaching Garden in Kill Devil Hills. Male bluebirds tend to draw attention to themselves at their nest cavities in this way to lure potential mates, according to Cornell Lab. Dare County Extension Master Gardener volunteers maintain the arboretum garden at 300 Mustian St. Photo: Kip Tabb
Nice alligator; see you later
An American alligator sunning at North River Wetlands Preserve in Carteret County slides in for a dip recently as March temperatures rose. The 6,000-acre preserve is the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s project to return farmland back to its original state and to use the wetlands to naturally treat polluted runoff. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review. Photo: Doug Waters
Coming ashore
A snapping turtle climbs from the water for a snack recently at Sandy Run Park in Kitty Hawk. The park at 4343 The Woods Road offers public access to the Kitty Hawk Woods Maritime Forest, a half-mile nature trail with a pair of gazebos, canoe or kayak access, a nature observation tower, a catch and release fishing pier, picnic tables, benches and interpretive signage. While Sandy Run Park is home to friendly turtles, visitors are asked to not feed them. Photo: Kip Tabb
Brilliant redhead on the hunt
A male pileated woodpecker, or Dryocopus pileatus, searches for a snack Sunday in the bark of a pine tree in Nags Head Woods Preserve, one of the largest remaining maritime forests on the East Coast, according to The Nature Conservancy. This woodpecker, which feeds on insects in trees and logs, is one of more than 150 bird species visitors may spot at the preserve, and at least a third nests here, according to the conservancy. Photo: Kip Tabb
Icy conditions persist, more to come
Marshallberg Harbor is iced in during last weekend’s winter storm. Despite warmer temperatures in the days since, black ice and snow along with refreezing of standing water remain a threat to travel, National Weather Service forecasters in Newport said Thursday. Also, after this brief improvement, strong winds will again develop Friday night over coastal waters as an Arctic front moves through the region, producing strong gale conditions expected to persist into Sunday morning. Photo: Rachael Carlyle
Temperatures drop, weekend wintery low possible
Ice covers a patch of volunteer vegetation near Michael J. Smith Field Tuesday after an overnight freeze in Beaufort. Cold temperatures are forecast to continue through the weekend, when there’s potential for a coastal low pressure to develop, possibly bringing wintry weather, National Weather Service forecasters said Tuesday. Photo: Dylan Ray
