Wilds of Eastern North Carolina – April 2017

Pileated Woodpecker

Eastern North Carolina is a welcoming place in early spring for a naturalist visiting from the Nation’s Capital. Springtime things are happening down there that have not yet happened up North. I spent six days naturizing down there—first on the mainland, which is chockablock with interesting green spaces, and then out on Cape Hatteras, which, of course, is another world altogether. It’s altogether worth the 6 or 7 hour drive to get away from the mayhem of the 24-hour political cycle of DC.

Northern Cardinal

The key is to select a couple of bases of operation, and then fan out from each of these. That is what I did. I first based at Pettigrew State Park, in tiny Creswell, NC. The state park is about 10 miles southwest of the only nearby community of any size, which is beautiful and historic Columbia, right on the Scuppernong River—itself worth visiting. The Brickhouse Inn is a nifty bed-and-breakfast worth trying out there.

Northern Parula

Pettigrew State Park is set on the north shore of Lake Phelps, the second largest natural lake in the state. This circular body of water with  mysterious geological origins—perhaps it was created by a bolide strike. The weirdest thing about it is that all the streams associated with the lake flow out and none flow into it, raising the question of where the lake’s water derives from.

White-tailed Deer

Anyway, it is a beautiful lake and its north shore is ringed by a remnant of an ancient forest that once sheltered the shoreline. Storms in the last half-century have taken down many of the oldest trees, but it is still quite grand, with impressive Baldcypress, Sweet Gum, and Tulip Trees. A hiking path wanders the length of this forest.

Pine Warbler

Next to the Pettigrew State Park campground is Somerset Place plantation, which is a gorgeous antebellum estate that has been lovingly restored and maintained. That is a local gem worth visiting, set right on the lake.

Somerset Plantation House

The area is very flat, wonderful for biking. I biked all around in search of birds and wildlife. The songbird migrants were few, but I did hear singing Wood Thrush, Great Crested Flycatcher, and Northern Parula. Great Horned Owls and Screech Owls called in the early pre-dawn hours by the campsite, and, unfortunately, fighter jets screamed low over the lake at odd hours. It was not a big treat to be awoken in my tent by the massive roar of jet engines just after dropping off into a deep sleep. These presumably were pilots in training from Cherry Point air station, about 25 miles south of the park.

Turkey Vulture

About a half hour north of the state park is Palmetto/Peartree Reserve, which is a mix of swamp and pine forest, home to endangered Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and Brown-headed Nuthatches. The reserve is always worth a visit. The woodpeckers, which nest in family groups, start their nesting season in late April, but are present in the habitat year-round.

Red-cockaded Woodpeckers

This section of eastern North Carolina is pocosin country—a vast flat expanse of raised bogs—one of the strangest habitats in our Nation. These are southern acidic peat bogs that are a mix of shrubs and pines and are now the home of a translocated population of captive-bred Red Wolf, a species otherwise extinct in the wild. There is a major debate on the taxonomic status of the Red Wolf going on as we speak, which cannot help with building a constituency in support of their nearly-extinct creature.

Brown-headed Nuthatches

For many decades prior to the Civil War, the settlers of eastern North Carolina put their slaves to work in an attempt to convert the pocosin country to productive agricultural land. They succeeded in some places (e.g., just north of Pettigrew State Park) but most of the vast eastern lowlands remains swamplands, and is now mainly encompassed in a three federal refuges – Alligator River, Pocosin Lakes, and Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuges. A naturalist could spend the whole spring down here and only cover a small part of this inundated territory (much would have to be done by canoe or kayak).

Purple Martins

Driving due east for about an hour brought me to Nags Head and the Outer Banks. This is big-time beach and vacation country, a far cry from the pocosin wilds. The Outer Banks are a strip of sand that extends from the Virginia border south nearly to the South Carolina border. I headed to the town of Buxton, very near to Cape Hatteras point, which I had visited twice before.

Snapping Turtle

Hatteras is where the barrier beach makes a hard right turn and head southwestward toward Ocracoke Island. I tent-camped at Cape Woods campground in Buxton, and wandered by bike and car in search of birds and other nature. I took long walks on the beach in various directions in search of waterbirds. Much of the beach is protected as Cape Hatteras National Seashore, but, unfortunately, much of the “nationally-protected” beach habitat is made accessible to SUVs, to allow surf fishing to take place.

Royal Terns

The first time I visited the Cape Point with my wife, Carol, in the spring of 2011, we had the point to ourselves—no vehicles. The point was filled with terns and other waterbirds.  It was magical! This time, hundreds of fishermen and their SUVs lined the beach and the birds were some place else. Some of the back bay areas had been fenced off for breeding oystercatchers and Piping Plovers, but I saw only a pair of the former and zero of the latter. I also visited the point of Cape Hatteras southwest of Buxton—the point that looks toward Ocracoke Island. I managed to find some bayside collections of waterbirds there.

Sandwich Terns

I spent a lot of time biking about on the flat roads. I also walked the Buxton Woods trail a few times, and twice visited Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, back north up the coast toward Nags Head.

Boat-tailed Grackle

I later learned that the best time to visit Cape Hatteras for seabirds was in late May when the truly pelagic seabirds (shearwater and jaegers) are passing northward in numbers.

Cattle Egret

Another place much worth visiting for nature and history is Roanoke Island. Situated between the mainland and the Outer Banks, Roanoke Island is very low key, with some nice places to stay, some good restaurants, and the Fort Raleigh site of the “Lost Colony.”

There is plenty to see and do in eastern North Carolina....

Royal Tern in flight