So I had promised my good lady wife Nancie that for her birthday we would go to the beach for a day. Back in September. Yeah, it took a while.
Mostly because she was busy and on the days we would tentatively plan to go the weather forecast would be for rain or such. We were totally prepared to go Monday morning, but Bunnie pointed out that the next day would be 10 degrees warmer so we chose to be a bit less cold.
We drove down to Wilmington NC, about a flat three hour drive from here in the Bull City. Left at shortly after 8:00 a.m. and excepting for a pee break at a rest stop, which magically turned into getting to see my boy, Dylan, for a few minutes (he was on his way to do something for his job and had stopped for a potty break as well) we made great time.
Nancie had been talking about us going to Airlie Gardens there in Wilmington for a bit as a friend of hers had posted some bird photos taken there on Facebook. Since I had brought a small camera kit with me, we decided to pay them a visit. You can find out more information about the gardens on their website, https://airliegardens.org
It is a quaint little park with a few walking trails spread out amongst some HUGE moss draped trees, including the Airlie Oak, a Southern Live Oak that is almost 500 years old. There are a few gardens within the park, access to the sound where you can see sea grasses and the birds that live in them. And a few small ponds that are full of logs with sunning Turtles and surrounded by trees and brush that conceal many species of wading birds. We saw a very large Great Blue Heron high up in a pine grooming and preening seemingly oblivious to what was going on below him. Also saw a juvenile Little Blue Heron trying to hide in the brush and a Black Crowned Night Heron that appeared to be in the middle of a molt. And of course, the gangly cousin of the graceful waders, the Anhinga. Quite a few juveniles perched on logs and branches around the pond. One even tried to take over a log occupied by a group of seven or so sunning turtles, but they mostly just ignored him even when he was standing on one for a while. Here are a few shots of some of what we saw.
The Airlie Oak. 500 years old!
Happy sunning Turtles!
An old croaker of a Great Blue Heron just ignoring us way up in a vine wrapped pine.
One of many of the juvenile Anhinga we saw. This one chased off most of the turtles on this end of the log except for one stubborn old slider that did not mind being stood on, or covered by a outstretched wing.
After a good while there ( We both walked more there than we had anywhere since the start of the Covid lockdowns. And we could both tell it then and even more so this morning.) we moseyed back to our car. I was a bit disappointed at the number of birds we saw, but it is not the prime season to see waders and we were there right at Noon, also know to birders and bird photographers as ‘No Dang Birds O’clock. It was nice walk, got some neat photos and learned what we can do when we come back. And we plan to.
Next was Lunch! Nancie is doing a ‘food plan’ at the moment that mostly involves drinking freshly squeezed juices so she pre-prepared her ‘meals’ for the day and took them in a small cooler bag. That left me free to eat at one of my favorite places in Wilmington, Elijah’s. One Crabcake Sandwich w/fries and a tea later and I was happy. So we headed over towards next destination, Ft. Fisher and the seashore right across from it.
I have taken so many photographs from that sidewalk and short open area right before the piles of huge rocks and roadway pieces they have piled up there on the northern end of that little strip of sand right beside the open beach there. Sometimes you will be greeted by group after group of brown pelicans flying along in their precision close yet seemingly haphazard patterns. Or terns, gulls, and other shorebirds intermixed with odd duck and cormorant. But yesterday was…. dead. Again, early afternoon sun and a lull in the tide makes for a time when seabirds are not feeding. And so where ever they go when they aren’t there was likely full. I actually left my camera in the car. It is ok to do that sometimes, even when you are a ‘serious’ or ‘semi-pro’ photographer.
Nancie and I have discovered something we really enjoy doing when we are down at either Ft. Fisher or near Southport: Take the 45 minute ferry from whichever end we are on to the other. Since we had also sort of scheduled this trip to go and pick up some baked goods from our favorite cake maker in Bolton, the trip across to Southport was going to get us closer to getting there rather than having to double back in to Wilmington and then go south to Bolton. Plus, we always see some interesting ‘friends’ on the ferry. I will let the photos and captions tell the story of our ferry ride from Ft. FIsher to Southport.
Always good to know what boat you are on. And where the nearest lifebuoy is. One of the ferries of the pair that service this route is the ‘Southport’.
When on a ship, it is always a good idea to see the Captain and make sure he is up to the task. This Boat-tailed Grackle seemed to have everything in control.
1st Mate here kept a close eye on everyone who got out of their vehicles on the ferry.
The Bosun’s Mate checks the marker lights.
These two went amongst the cars on the deck to make sure no one had brought any illicit crackers, cookies or french fries aboard. They did not seem to be happy to find that no one had.
Once we were well underway and all seemed to be ship shape, a few of the crew found nice places to perch and enjoy the sun and breeze. What is really funny about all this is that: Of course they could fly from Ft.Fisher to Southport. They are birds after all. But they DON’T! Every time I am on this ferry route there are a small group of Boat-Tailed Grackles that are hitching a ride on the ferry. I have seen some fly off at the ferry station once we docked, and seen others come aboard while sitting there. But never seen one that seems to have flown any distance from shore to alight on the ferry. They totally get the idea of ‘Why fly when you could just ride along in style with no effort? Remember that when you call a bird dumb. These ‘dumb birds’ understand using an available method of conveyance that is NOT their own flight.
Of course, there are always some form of sea birds tailing along behind the ferries. And a few usually take a break from flying and hitch a ride. On this trip, it was a crowd of Laughing Gulls (Non Breeding Adults) and a few other species. I will try to point them out in the following photos.
When we first got going there were four Gulls on the Port rail at the stern.
And four on the Starboard rail at the stern.
A Herring Gull (maybe 2nd or 3rd Summer) tries land inconspicuously amongst the Laughing Gulls on the Port side.
While the Laughing Gulls on the Starboard rail start to feel the effects of the stiff breeze that kicked up.
A row of five Laughing Gulls on the Port rail and one Ring-billed Gull (First Winter) sneaking into the line on the stern.
Suddenly there were only two gulls on the very end of the Port rail and none on the Starboard side.
Then one of the two from the Port side took off and headed across the water. What could they be heading to? We were just shortly past the halfway point of the route.
Oh, the sister ship to the SouthPort, the Ft. Fisher was going past. They all went over to see if anyone was feeding something on that ship. Nope.
Not all of the original group came back. Here is one of the Laughing and one Ring-Billed gull on the Port rail. A stiff breeze blowing across kept the Starboard rail clear most of the rest of the trip.
I know this Laughing Gull is just preening, but I like to imagine he is looking down at his feet and saying, “How am I holding on to this slick rail?”
A group of Double Breasted Cormorants (Juvenile) have sort of taken over this old chanel light structure.
A pair of Brown Pelicans make a fine top for a channel marker. And the Great Black-backed Gull hitching a float on the base does not really seem to care what they are doing.
About here the ferry engines change their pitch and the slight adjusting turns begin to guide us to the ferry ramp. Still one thing to see though..
Why, a small sailboat flying a Jolly Roger! Are we to be boarded, keelhauled and scuttled?
If that was the plan, maybe they should reconsider the large plaque on the stern with the Name of the vessel: Dominion and it’s home port: New York. A bit easy to identify the scallywags. ( I swear I have seen this very ship anchored in the channel between the Beaufort NC docks and Carrot Island.)
So there you have it. A successful Photo Outing does not have to be multi-day, planned months in advance, and have you carrying so much gear you need a Sherpa. (Just had my D850, a 300 F4, and a 35 1.4 in the bag. Darn right spartan compared to my usual.) It was great to spend some time out of the house with my lovely bride and got to bag a few shots as well. Win-Win.
Till next time remember to stay on the correct side of the camera and…
It ain’t the Camera!
Tom