The Sea

Perhaps the sea in its entirety is too huge for the human mind to comprehend, but it is only through trying to understand her that you come to appreciate the Outer Banks fully. The ocean dominates the islands, influencing their weather, land, flora, fauna, and the lifestyle of the people. Scientists work daily at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck studying currents to understand erosion. Outer Banks history is steeped in harrowing accounts of lifesaving efforts, and the economy is heavily based in seaoriented tourism, the commercial seafood industry, and recreational fishing. The position of Cape Hatteras, jutting into the Atlantic, puts us near the continental shelf's edge, which is approximately 37 miles southeast of Oregon Inlet and near the junction of three ocean currents: the Deep Western Boundary Current, Gulf Stream, and Shelf Current. These physical combinations create a nutrientrich habitat for sea life, resulting in worldrenowned offshore fishing and a wonderland for pelagic birds.

A forceful flow of water in the Atlantic Ocean passes off the Outer Banks's shores every day. The Gulf Stream is a swift ribbon of blue sea that has been flowing by since time immemorial. It is powered by forces arising from the earth's rotation and the influence of the winds, and the energy and warmth it emits has had a profound effect on humankind. While the stream's course is influenced somewhat by gales, barometric pressure, and seasonal changes, the general flow remains fairly constant, creating a dichotomy: While the stream is ever-present, its contents are ever-changing. Millions upon millions of tons of water per second are carried along this ancient path. Swept along are fish, microscopic plants and animals, and gulfweed that originates in the Sargasso Sea.

Gulfweed lines the edge of the stream, creating a habitat for baitfish. You can easily scoop a handful of vegetation and find it teeming with life. The weed offers protection to infant fish, turtles, crabs, sea horses, and the most peculiar sargassum-fish. Endangered loggerhead sea turtles less than two weeks old, their egg beaks still intact, have been spotted in the weed. Flying fish are always fun to watch, although what we see as antics is actually the fish's sprint for life as it glides about 200 to 300 yards to escape a predator. The offshore life cycle is fascinating, and nowhere is it more evident than at the Gulf Stream.

Bird-watching

With ocean beaches, sand dunes, scrub thickets, marsh, pocosins, black-water swamps, and maritime and inland forests, the Outer Banks and surrounding inland regions are rich in waterfowl and other birds. Nearly 400 species of birds have been sighted within Cape Hatteras National Seashore and its surrounding waters. Many birds choose the area because of the diverse habitats and because it's a convenient stop along the eastern flyway. But occasionally a vagrant will blow in with strong winds or storms. Accidental species spotted on the Outer Banks are numerous, including the pacific loon, western grebe, white-winged dove, snowy owl, western tanager, cerulean warbler, sandhill crane, and many others.

Though birding is always exciting on the Outer Banks, the greatest variety of species occurs during the spring and fall migrations. Good numbers of migratory shorebirds can be seen on inlet tidal flats, the ponds at Pea Island and Bodie Island, and the salt ponds at Cape Hatteras Point. Land-bird observations occur in the shrub thickets along the dikes at Pea Island and in the maritime woods. Herons, egrets, terns, skimmers, and other birds that breed locally are best seen in the warmer months. These birds frequent both salt-and freshwater areas. Winter ducks, geese, and swans usually concentrate on ponds at Pea Island and Bodie Island and on Lake Mattamuskeet.

In the marshes herons, egrets, ibises, waterfowl, rails, and shorebirds are visible. These birds can be seen in the marshes all over the Outer Banks, but an easy access point into the marsh is the trails behind the Bodie Island Lighthouse.

Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge is one of the top birding sites on the whole East Coast. Impoundments, salt flats, and ponds house snow geese, Canada geese, willets, tundra swan, and several species of ducks. The live oaks house songbirds during fall migration. On the beaches shorebirds, gulls, terns, and pelicans keep busy. Nesting birds may include piping plover, American oystercatcher, terns, and skimmers.

Other great birding areas to visit include Nags Head Woods, Buxton Woods, Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Currituck National Wildlife Refuge, Jockey's Ridge State Park, and Ocracoke Island.

You don't have to be a bird lover to realize you have entered a unique bird-watching area as you tool down NC 12 through the National Seashore. Off in the distance, in the wetlands, a variety of species feed and sun. What is not so obvious is the gold-mine of pelagic species offshore, where bird-watchers witness both common and rare birds that never come to shore.

Local fishing headboats have been taking bird-watchers to the deep water for years. In fact, the sightings are so fruitful that a good part of Capt. Allan Foreman's charter boat business involves these trips. Foreman's Country Girl (252-473-5577), which fishes out of Pirate's Cove Yacht Club on Roanoke Island, is a 57-foot headboat built to carry large parties offshore. Down in Hatteras, Capt. Spurgeon Stowe runs bird-watching excursions aboard the 72-foot Miss Hatteras (252-986-2365) from Oden's Dock (see our Fishing chapter for more information on these boats). Bird enthusiasts spend the day searching for more than two dozen species that live on the water.

The petrel and shearwater families are the largest groups of birds visible here. Traveling from the Caribbean and the coast of Africa, these species summer off the Outer Banks. Among the petrels, the black-capped petrel is probably one of the most common to North Carolina waters. Twenty-five years ago this species was believed to be on the verge of extinction. No one knew where the birds were. Scientists now say that the world's population lives in the Gulf Stream off the Outer Banks area. For comparison's sake, Florida bird-watchers may see one or two black-capped petrels per trip, whereas trips departing from the Outer Banks can yield as many as 100 sightings on a good day.

What's exciting about these trips is the chance to view species that are rarely, if ever, seen on land. These birds are highly adapted for life on the sea. They could be mistaken for gulls or ducks, but as a group they are unique. Their tubular nostrils allow them to drink salt water then expel the salt. A much rarer bird sighted off North Carolina is the white-faced storm petrel. In a good year, one or two sightings are recorded. This bird shows up in the late summer or early fall and is very difficult to spot anywhere else in the world. While bird-watching off the Outer Banks, Mike Tove, a biologist from Cary, North Carolina, discovered two species of petrel that were rarely seen near North America. One of them, called the herald petrel, until recently was known from only a handful of recordings going back to the 1920s. "In 1991 boats started venturing offshore farther than usual," Tove said. "We started finding them. It's now a bird we see a half-dozen times a year. People come great distances looking for them." Tove officially presented to discovery another rare species in May 1991. "I had a bird that was identified as a Cape Verde petrel," he said. Prior to Tove's sighting, resurrected field notes revealed only three other recorded sightings of the bird. This species was entirely unknown in the United States and is extraordinarily rare anywhere in the world. "And we're seeing them with almost predictable regularity in late spring in very deep offshore waters past the edge of the continental shelf," he said. Tove's sightings form the baseline data for research. All the birds have been well documented with photographs.

You don't have to have a doctorate, as Tove does, to enjoy bird-watching. If you want to glimpse these offshore species, here are a few tips:

Bring fairly low-power, waterproof binoculars (Zeiss or Leitz 7X or 8X are excellent). Don't bother to bring your spotting scope; if you're a photographer, bring a telephoto lens to help document rarities. Constantly scan the horizon and wave tops for birdlife, and call out your sighting with the boat as reference; for example, six o'clock is directly off the stern.

Don't wait to try and identify the bird before calling it out; your fellow watchers will aid in that. Identification is often very difficult, and to do it accurately you must have a great deal of field experience and ability to interpret flight and molt patterns, which can be even more difficult during heavy seas.

Expect long periods where no birds are seen, but be prepared for the appearance of a good number and variety. Always take good notes on any unusual species before consulting your field guide. Describe and sketch exactly what you saw without allowing outside influences to color your recollection. Offshore bird-watching can be an exciting new adventure. If you haven't spent any time on the water, don't allow your fears to get the best of you. Captains won't take you out if the weather is too risky, and you can follow our tips on preventing sea sickness (see our Fishing chapter).

Happy bird-watching!

By the end of this guidebook, you may well be tired of the word "variety." It aptly describes not only the above-mentioned natural wonders but our weather as well. We find the weather to be changeable on the Outer Banks. Business owners who specialize in outdoor attractions are plagued by phone calls when the skies turn dark.

We tell our visitors that because the weather is so mercurial, wait 10 minutes and those dark clouds very possibly may be gone. There's variation from town to town. It may be pouring in Corolla, but Manteo has sunny skies. Torrential rains could send beachgoers scattering at noon, but 20 minutes later sunshine pours down from the heavens.

It seems to rain less in winter, while late summer evenings hold their share of window-rattling thundershowers. The good part is that the skies are usually clear during the day. The Atlantic Ocean, which is slow to warm and cool and heats to a maximum of about 80 degrees in the summer, affects air temperatures. Our nearness to the sea keeps summer air temperatures about 10 degrees cooler than our mainland counterparts. In the winter, disregarding the windchill factor, our air temperatures do just the opposite. Air flowing over the Gulf Stream toward us warms the winter air.

Nor'easters, occurring most often in the fall and winter, plague homeowners and fishermen alike. The high winds keep boats at the docks, sometimes knocking out three to seven workdays. These same winds wreak havoc on precariously perched oceanfront property. If the high winds coincide with the high tide and--heaven forbid--the full moon, powerful storm waves cover the land and cause beach erosion, structural damage, and both ocean and soundside flooding.

March has seen a few nasty storms, too, including the infamous Ash Wednesday Storm that struck on March 7, 1962, and the more recent March storm in 1993 when winds were clocked at 92 mph. The sound waters rose 8 to 10 feet, causing great damage. Year-round residents see all this nasty weather as a trade-off for living in such a paradise. While we tend to highlight the more extreme weather patterns here, there are far more absolutely gorgeous days occurring year-round.

The wind blows most of the time at an average of 8 to 10 mph. Occasional gale force winds range from 30 to 35 mph. In summer the wind blows predominantly out of the southwest, often increasing in the late afternoon. Southwest winds are warm, and if you're on a beach facing east, they create a generally flat ocean but stir up the sound. The wind frequently comes out of the northeast, which is a colder wind. Old-timers say that the wind always blows out of the northeast for an odd number of days-- one, three, or five-- before switching around again. Northeast winds create a rough ocean on east-facing beaches and are more predominant in fall and winter. Northwest and southeast winds are less common, but of course they do occur, usually as the wind is about to switch to northeast or southwest.

The weather is endlessly fascinating on the Outer Banks, something that almost every resident watches with vigilance. Surfers and anglers and anyone else who works or plays outside watch The Weather Channel (channel 16) for information. Many restaurants and bars even keep a TV tuned into The Weather Channel. Hurricanes, of course, are a whole different ballgame. See our Waves and Weather: How to Stay Safe chapter for additional information on what to do in case a hurricane threatens.