If you see a snake on the trail, in the yard or on the street, don’t worry, just give it room, but state officials ask you to report if you spot rattlers or pine snakes.
nature
Flock party
Judy L., of Morehead City, who says she’s also known as “the Bread Lady,” feeds the gulls at Fort Macon State Park on the east end of Bogue Banks.
Weakfish prolific spawners in North Carolina waters
It’s estimated that weakfish can spawn as many as 66 times per season, which is longer in North Carolina than in areas to the north.
Led to water, but not to drink
Wild mares enter the salty water between Town Marsh and Carrot Island in the Rachel Carson Reserve along Taylor’s Creek in Beaufort. Photo: Dylan Ray
Herons on the hunt
Herons, shown in the foreground, look for prey along the shore of the Newport River near Crab Point in Morehead City. Photo: Dylan Ray
Winter bloom
A yellowjacket climbs the winter bloom of a Fatsia japonica, or paper plant, in a Beaufort garden. Photo: Dylan Ray
Currituck catbird
A gray catbird surveys its snow-covered surroundings Saturday at the Currituck Banks National Estuarine Research Reserve north of Corolla. Photo: Kip Tabb
After the rain
A rainbow commands the sky over the Newport River and the Radio Island Fishing Pier Wednesday in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
December sunset
The sun sets over the Newport RIver in Carteret County on a calm December evening.
NC Bird Atlas to help prioritize conservation efforts
Volunteers are helping with a five-year project known as the North Carolina Bird Atlas that began this past spring to catalog the size and distribution of the state’s bird populations.
Sanderlings take flight
Sanderlings take flight over the beach in Kitty Hawk. Although a familiar and common sight on beaches around the world, this migratory species’ numbers may be in serious decline in the Americas, with surveys showing as much as an 80% drop since the early 1970s, according to Audubon. Photo: Kip Tabb
Silver liquid drops
A droplet of rain catches a ray of sunlight as summer showers wash over Beaufort in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
Softly the evening came
The sun sets over the Newport River in between Beaufort and Morehead City in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
Stick the landing
A dragonfly descends upon a twig breaching the surface of Black Creek in western Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
Reflections of summer
Fishers watch their lines as a scope reflects the pier house Thursday at the end of the Bogue Inlet Fishing Pier in Emerald Isle. Photo: Dylan Ray
Seeking shoreline snacks
A blue heron hunts near the shore of the Straits in Marshallberg amid a combination of man-made bulkhead and living shoreline in Down East Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray
