Tuesday, May 10, 2016

More Photos from Friday, April 22nd (Beidler Forest Audubon Center)

We had a nice run this morning (Monday, April 25) in 50 degree weather in the Cedar Point Recreation Area before driving north to the Fort Macon area at Morehead City and then on to our 4 pm ferry reservation at Cedar Island.  We arrived in plenty of time to find out that the ferry had some "issues" and might not be able to go to Ocracoke Island.  Two hours later the problem had been fixed but we had to wait for the Coast Guard to come make sure the problem had been fixed to their satisfaction.  The ferry finally left at 6:30 pm and we arrived on Ocracoke Island at 8:30 pm and got set up in camp shortly thereafter.  Since we had no cell coverage again last night we will try to catch up a little with photos.

1.  Eastern Mud Turtles are found in a variety of freshwater wetlands and may spend a significant amount of time on land during rainy periods 


2-7.  Brown Water Snakes:  The most common non-venomous snake in the forest;  markings are chocolate brown and black with rectangular patches that do not connect to make a ring and they have round pupils.






8-11.  Cottonmouth Moccasins are the only venomous species in the swamp.  They are Pit Vipers related to rattlesnakes and display white lining of their mouth when threatened.  Markings to note: large, angular diamond-shaped head with a relatively thin neck; thick, heavy body with black rings that go all the way around the body;  in all color phases, tail fades to black; vertical slit pupils; dark line through the eye for the entire length of the head.






12-16.  Female Prothonotary Warblers, the signature bird of this swamp (over 2000 pairs nest here so many of the birds we saw were banded)









17-19. Males have a little more striking yellow on their heads



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