ELIF #4: 9 Things I'll Miss About North Carolina

After spending nearly nine months here in North Carolina, there are certain things you really gain an appreciation for. Not everyone gets to experience life on an island or literally live at the beach for long periods of time and spending that time here has been very special for me. I've decided to compile a list of the things that have brought me feelings of wonder, joy, and contentment and share them with y'all. I hope you enjoy!

1. Life on an island has many seasons, both natural and unnatural and getting to experience those seasons is one of the best things about living here. In August, the waning tourist season feels especially apparent, but the warm weather remains right up into the holidays. The onset of winter with surprise "snowstorms"and the slow return of spring (and the poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) with it) were equally memorable. As my time here has drawn to a close, the eventual return of the tourists for the Memorial Day weekend, better known as the official beginning of commercial summer is upon us. Like so many visitors that flock to the Outer Banks every year (200,000 per summer according to the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau), they are here for the chance to relax on gorgeous beaches, splash in gleaming blue waters, and soak up the summer rays all day long.

Sunset in Atlantic Beach, NC.

2. With so many people visiting the beaches, you would think that they would talk about sand more often. However, I've found that sand isn't too high on a lot of people's lists for something to remember about living at the beach,However, by looking at that sand, it can tell us a lot about the origins of the beach that people love to visit. Quartz, shell fragments, and other biological material ground down into small particles pile up over millennia and give us the unique beach features we know and love. If you've ever visited Hawaii, their beaches are black from the constant volcanic activity, while another beach on the same island could be white due to the constant excretions of parrotfish droppings! Now isn't that fascinating? After staring closely at those sand grains, you might want to look up and take in your surroundings. After all, the Outer Banks are some of the most beautiful places to photograph.

Everything is more interesting close up; especially sand particles. 

3. Beautiful scenery? Enough said.

Salt marsh overlooking Bogue Sound in Pine Knoll Shores, NC.

Dock overlooking Bogue Sound, Pine Knoll Shores, NC.

Cape Lookout as seen from Harker's Island, NC.

A storeroom at historic Fort Macon in Atlantic Beach, NC.

Surfers enjoy the waves at Emerald Isle pier, Emerald Isle, NC. 

4. As a New Englander, seeing southerners react to snow is always fascinating. Life feels slower in the south and it only gets slower when those temperatures drop lower. The snow days, glazed roads, and dusted trees were expected but seeing one of the more iconic habitats of the island in a frozen state was mesmerizing. By far, the sight of the sound covered in ice chunks and snow will be one of my favorite memories of this place. It looked more like the edge of the tundra than a salt marsh and I'm so glad I was there to see it. In addition to freaky weather events, we were blessed with a diverse array of wild creatures including fish, crustaceans, small mammals, and of course, birds.

Icy shoreline of Bogue Sound in Pine Knoll Shores, NC in January 2018.

5. Brown thrashers (Toxostoma rufum), Forster's tern (Sterna forsteri), white ibis (Eudocimus albus), and red-headed woodpeckers (Melanerpes erthyrocephalus). Seeing birds I had only previously dreamed about seeing on a regular basis has all been possible while living here in the Tar Heel state. It has been a pleasure walking through the woods being serenaded by thrashers and wrens before breaking out into a clearing near the shore and watching the ebb and flow of sandpipers running up and down the sand. Though there are other bird rich areas that I have yet to visit, this place will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Brown thrasher hides in a thicket, Pine Knoll Shores, NC. 

Forster's and Royal terns (Thalasseus maximus) preen on teaching dock, Pine Knoll Shores, NC.

A white ibis and snowy egret (Egretta thula) vie for fish in the salt marshes of Bogue Banks.

A red-headed woodpecker perches briefly on a snag on Bogue Banks.

6. Birds weren't the only things to capture my attention. Strange trees cover the islands of Bogue Banks. Massive oaks with winding branches, swayed in the near constant breeze, bracing for the next inevitable gust while, American hollies (Ilex opaca) and musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana) bowing on gnarled trunks stooped just below those towering oaks. Along their bark grew the telltale signs of lichen; a diverse array of algae or cyanobacteria that grow amongst filaments of fungi and occur in many different colors, shades, and textures. My favorite lichens are the bright red and white ones that grow on hollies giving them a similar look to a barbershop pole. The trees and birds aren't the only diverse things that grow in and around the islands though.

Lichen rests like splotches of paint on the bark of a holly.

The canopy of the maritime forest will forever be one of my favorite sights.

7. Marine life around the island is rich. In fact, the sound is known as the ocean's nursery; a food-rich environment where young animals can grow up before heading out into the ocean beyond. In the past few weeks, we have had the fortune of capturing a huge variety of creatures to inspect, to poke and prod, and to ponder over. Massive whelks that prey on hard-shelled oysters, pipefish and spider crabs that hide in the flooded marsh grasses, pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides) and blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) vying for scraps of squid from a dissection a day earlier. All these creatures were engaging and captured my attention so thoroughly that to this day, I'm still hungry for knowledge about these incredible animals. Alas, even after some cease to be, their remains wash up on the beaches and are crushed back into sand. The larger chunks that remain on the sand make for a collectors paradise.

The massive knobbed whelk (Busycon carica) featured in ELIF #3.

A large sea nettle jelly (Chrysaora quinquecirrha) caught in the sound in early May.

8. The 21 miles of beach along Bogue Banks is a shell collectors haven. Large distinctive ones like surf clams (Spisula solidissima) and Atlantic giant cockles (Dinocardium robustum) capture one's attention quickly, while a more detailed search reveals ark shells, calico scallops (Argopecten gibbus), worn down oysters, and the minute jingle shells. What fascinates me about these beaches is the knowledge that they are the accumulated remains of thousands of living organisms whose shells and exoskeletons will eventually become the very sand we all walk on every day at the beach. Having the privilege of working in such a place is something truly special; where one can experience an entire cross section of the island and gain an appreciation for the diversity of life that can be found here. I wouldn't have been able to do so without my colleagues at Sound to Sea.

A dented ark shell rests on the sand on Bogue Banks, NC.

Worm damage to a shell found on Bogue Banks, NC.

9. I'll miss the wonderful Sound to Sea program where I spent the past nine months learning and growing, laughing and crying and breathing deeply, enjoying new friends and creating wonderful memories to look back on. Thank you to Jane, Joe, JaNey, Rachel, Becca, Eli, Caitlin, Maggie, Meghan, and Mindy who made this possible and I wish you a gorgeous summer with plenty of fun, waves, and Popsicles! Sail on, narwhals! Sail on!

March on, mighty narwhals! Thank you for a wonderful 2017-2018 season!

"At the beach, life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun." - Sandy Gringas