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 There are a huge number of places to watch wildlife on the Outer Banks. What is so impressive is the diversity of habitat that exists in such a relatively small area which gives rise to a fabulous variety of animal species. One place that has more than its fair share of wildlife is the Nag’s Head Woods Preserve although the area can be relatively quiet, particularly during or after a dry summer. However, one of our visits was in early May 2005 on a lovely sunny day following a very wet spell of weather. On that occasion we decided to walk round the Discovery Trail. The Nature Conservancy manages the Preserve and the trail is, to quote from their pamphlet, “an easy half-mile walk – from swamps and freshwater ponds to mixed hardwood forests along old dune ridges.” Throughout our 2-hour visit we saw a good number of birds including: Pileated and Hairy Woodpeckers, Ruby Throated Hummingbird, Yellow Billed Cuckoo, Eastern Kingbird and Green Heron. There where plenty of frogs and skinks about, but I’m afraid our species identification abilities for these is very limited (note to self – must get a good field guide of reptiles and amphibians!). The highlight of the day though, was the River Otters! We encountered them almost as soon as we started the trail, the first one’s head gradually rising out of the still waters of the main pond to stare at us for a few moments before sliding back out of sight. From then on we caught glimpses of them in water as we walked to the other side of the pond. The ground there was slightly elevated and offered good views back over the pond. This gave us the opportunity to see another, rather distant; individual perched on a log, eating something. We couldn’t make out what its meal was, even with binoculars, so we set up our birding telescope to get a better view. This was a BIG mistake! Lunch turned out to be a very large, albeit headless, bullfrog, which still appeared to be wriggling quite strongly. Whilst the ‘scope gave us excellent views, we would happily have accepted inferior views with the binoculars. Please don’t let this put you off – the preserve is really good, particularly in the spring and has well documented (leaflets) trails and walks – but leave your ‘scope at home! |
Adventures 
What could be better than taking a fun airplane ride around the Outer Banks (OBX) from the birthplace of flight in Kitty Hawk, NC!
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