Pea Island and Oregon Inlet OBX Photos - The Hull Truth

OBX Skeeter · 02-02-2008, 10:06 PM

Today was a bit warmer than it has been, getting up to the high 40's. So I thought I would ride down to the Pea Island National Refuge and the Oregon Inlet areas to see what I could find.

This mallard was one of several that were taking in the warm sunshine...

This Brown Pelican soared overhead...it was so quiet I could hear the wind rush through it's feathers...

Lots of these were around...canvasbacks or redheads?

High flying white pelicans...

And one slowly paddling along in the north retention pond of the refuge...

A pair of ducks (anyone know what they are?)

A merganser preening by the edge of the water...

These turtles were soaking up the sun at the edge of one of the small ponds...

There were lots of small birds around...

There was a large bunch of snow geese that had gathered north of the NRP. There must have been thousands of them! Every few minutes the whole bunch would take flight and the honking was incredible! I wish you could have been there to see and hear it...it was a wonderful sight and sound. That's the Oregon Inlet Bridge that you can see in the distance in some of the shots...

Before I left Pea Island, I went over the dune and checked out the sights. Just look at how crowded the beach was...

This is the wreck of an old steamer from the Civil War era, The Oriental. The boiler is easy to see at low tide..

This fishing trawler was headed south...I wonder where they were headed and where they had been...

I headed back north and stopped to take photo of the old Coast Guard Station on the south side of Oregon Inlet...

There were quite a few boats heading in and out of the inlet...

There were the usual shore birds around, searching for the next bite to eat...

This loon was also fishing for a meal...

You never know what you might see at the Inlet, but this was a first for me, there. I bet it was a nice view of the inlet from that thing, but I think I'll stay on the sand...

Always great to see an Osprey flying overhead...even this noisy one...

Well that's all for this trip. I wish you a great weekend! God bless you and yours!

RingLeader · 02-02-2008, 10:12 PM

American Wigeon, he's my favorite.

rcp1025 · 02-03-2008, 04:56 AM

Beautiful pictures Skeeter. I really enjoy them and you always remind me of how much I appreciate anything near or along NC 12. I can't wait to get back down there in a few weeks.

SEADUCKTION · 02-03-2008, 09:21 AM

The other pic is of a flock of Redheads. Now is the best time to get awesome breeding plumage pics of waterfowl. Great pics. Send those snows up north by the end of Feb. PLEASE!!!!
Rich

ReelWork · 02-03-2008, 01:24 PM

I miss the Outer Banks....

riffraff2 · 02-04-2008, 06:13 AM

Very nice pics, thanks for sharing.

redneck7 · 02-06-2008, 09:24 PM

Very nice. Spearfished the Oriental from a kayak one time and one time only. Big bull and LOOOOONG paddle (your pictures were zoomed to make it seem deceivingly close to shore.)

I love the pictures every time...mind sharing once again what body/lens(es)?

OBX Skeeter · 02-07-2008, 08:13 AM

Thanks much for the kind words! redneck7 , I used a Nikon D70S with an 80-300mmVR lense.