Two opossums have a snack in the outdoor enclosure at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter and Education Center in Carteret County. OWLS is a nonprofit wildlife hospital where thousands of injured, sick and orphaned native wildlife are rehabilitated and released. OWLS cares for opossums like these two from infancy in the shelter’s nursery, to juveniles in the outdoor enclosures, to when they’re old enough to be released in a safe location. Photo: OWLS
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Group Rallies Against Offshore, Seismic
More than 60 demonstrators stood together Saturday in Calabash to rally against seismic exploration and offshore drilling, according to organizers. The new environmental group based in Brunswick County, Defenders of Mother Earth, or DOME, organized the protest to share the message of protecting the coast and timed it during the busy holiday weekend for maximum exposure. Photo: Contributed
Lookout Photo Places in NOAA Contest
Roy Brownlow placed in the marine debris category of the NOAA Office for Coastal Management 2019 Coastal Management in Action photo contest for his image of remnants of abandoned vehicles on Cape Lookout National Seashore.
Sea Turtle Sighting on Pine Knoll Shores
Pine Knoll Shores police officer Nancy Montanino snapped this photo on World Turtle Day Thursday of a sea turtle while on the town’s beach. Sea turtle nesting and hatching season began May 1 and goes through October. Contact the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores if you spot any nesting turtles, or injured and dead turtles at 252-247-4003.
Patsy Pond Predator
A fledgling great horned owl watches over the Patsy Pond Nature Trail in the Croatan National Forest near Newport on an early morning last week. According to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the great horned owl is the largest owl species in the state, so named because of the two prominent ear tufts of feathers that resemble horns.
Life Under the Sea
This vibrant octopus was spotted in the Pamlico Canyon about 20 miles offshore of the Outer Banks by a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, during a dive project sponsored by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program. The dive is part of the fifth research expedition of the Deep Sea Exploration and Research of Coral/Canyon/Cold seep Habitats, or DEEP SEARCH.
View of Home
NASA astronaut Christina H. Koch, who was raised in Jacksonville, shared Monday on Twitter a photo she took of coastal North Carolina from the International Space Station. “It took my breath away as it came into focus. My first glimpse of coastal North Carolina from space. It’s a special thing to see from above the place where you grew up — the ocean that first inspired my fascination with things that make me feel small & planted the seed to explore,” she wrote.
Wind Creates Pedestals at Cape Lookout
Cape Lookout National Seashore posted on Facebook Sunday a cluster of sand pedestals, which were created by strong easterly winds that blew loose sand away from the hardened, wind-resistant sections of the beach, on the north end of North Core Banks.
State Staff Cleans up Carrot Island
North Carolina Divisions of Marine Fisheries and Air Quality employees Wednesday afternoon collected 1,500 pounds of debris on Carrot Island, part of the Rachel Carson Reserve in Beaufort. The cleanup was held in recognition of National Volunteer Week and Earth Month.
Dismantling the Bonner Bridge
Workers use a 600-ton floating crane to dismantle the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, from which material will be used at offshore reef sites in coordination with the state Division of Marine Fisheries. Crofton Industries, a subcontractor of PCL Construction, also used the crane to help with setting caps and girders weighing about 130 tons each for the replacement bridge. Photo: Crofton Industries
Coast Guard, NASA Test Orion Replica
Crews of U.S. Coast Guard Station Fort Macon and the USCG buoy tender Maple worked March 10 with members of NASA and their Orion spacecraft development team to conduct open water testing for the Orion Crew Module. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Southern Outer Banks Inspire Students
This painting by a Swansboro High School student joins 60 other impressions of the Southern Outer Banks in a student art exhibit to be on display at Cape Lookout National Seashore’s two visitor centers through the summer.
Themed “Connect with the Rhythms of Nature on the Southern Outer Banks,” the art exhibition will be on display at the Harkers Island Visitor Center March 9-Sept. 9 and the Beaufort Visitor Information Center starting March 25, when the park information center reopens for the season.
Sunset Scene at The Point
The sunset casts a golden glow over the beach earlier this week at the Point, the westernmost tip of Emerald Isle on Bogue Banks in Carteret County. Photo: Sam Bland
Marine Debris Cleanup Underway
This pile of marine debris has been collected since Monday from the uninhabited islands around Swansboro by a crew of commercial fishermen, boat captains and marine contractors and is being stored at Casper’s Marina in downtown Swansboro. The 2019 Post Hurricane Florence Marine Debris Collection Project, coordinated by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, is expected to continue for about a year. Photo: Jennifer Allen
Winter Sunset
The sun begins to set behind the Atlantic Beach high-rise bridge in this photo by Jennifer Allen on Wednesday, an unseasonably warm February evening.
Sunrise Over Swansboro
The folks at Hammocks Beach State Park shared Tuesday this photo of the sun rising over the park in Swansboro. Rangers are offering a chance to see the park after the sun sets with two special programs.
