Boats dot the Carteret County waters of, from left, Gallants Channel, Taylors Creek and Bulkhead Channel Thursday, with, in the foreground, Pivers Island, home to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Beaufort Laboratory and the Duke University Marine Lab; Front Street in Beaufort at top left; the Rachel Carson Reserve, center-left; Shackleford Banks, top-center and part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore; and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. Photo: Dylan Ray
nature
New landscaping guide suggests ‘Plant This Instead!’
It’s hard to know what plants are best for your garden, but a new guide from the Coastal Landscapes Initiative offers alternatives to potentially harmful and invasive ornamentals.
Leaving home
An osprey takes flight, leaving chicks in a nest on a leaning piling above the waters of Midden Creek near Tusk in Down East Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
Your perfectly mown lawn may be harming pollinators
An awareness campaign called “No Mow May” is urging people not to mow their lawns this month, or even this whole season, as a way to help make sure that pollinators have enough to eat.
Morning meal
A lone Ibis hunts near a ridge of oysters near low tide on a recent morning in Marshallberg. Photo: Dylan Ray
Whale of a tail
A humpback whale navigates the tide May 4 in Beaufort Inlet, as photographed from Fort Macon State Park. Humpback whales’ flukes can be up to 18 feet wide, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says their markings are unique enough to identify individuals. Photo: Doug Waters
Feeding time
A pied-billed grebe chick watches intently as mother prepares a crawfish for breakfast at North River Wetlands Preserve in Otway. Photo: Doug Waters
Sugarloaf scenic
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
‘A strange and beautiful place’: My portable paradise
The paddle from downtown Beaufort to the Rachel Carson Reserve offers “tranquility like no other” for guest columnist and N.C. Coastal Reserve Communications Specialist Jillian Daly.
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
‘Building a Personal Connection with Nature’ to start series
The extension speaker series with New Hanover County Center of the N.C. Cooperative Extension kicks off March 3 and takes place the first Friday of the month.
Museum to host ‘Pollination Investigation’ poster exhibit
On display starting March 20 at the Museum of the Albemarle, “Pollination Investigation” shows the process and importance of pollination.
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
Spray of color
A rainbow appears in the spray of a breaking wave Jan. 26 off Hatteras Island, near Buxton. West winds blow the spray offshore behind the wave, and the water droplets scatter the sunlight, allowing surfers and onlookers to see the full visible spectrum of color from certain angles.
Ribbon-cutting set for new StoryWalk project in Leland
StoryWalk includes 18 panels along the Westgate Nature Park trail, each featuring a page from the children’s book,“The Traveling Coin” by local author Kevin Kirk.
New book explores the once-common practice of foraging
Author and anthropologist Lisa Rose explores the world of edible wild plants in her book, “Urban Foraging.”
