Ft. Fisher

Ft. Fisher was a Civil War fort and the last seacoast fort to be taken by the North.  It is about a mile down from where we live and has a wonderful walk.  It is covered by these beautiful old Live Oaks which twist and turn.  South of here a public beach extends for miles and miles only accessible by foot, boat or 4 wheel drive vehicles.  Warren frequently walks down there at low tide.  It actually extends to Bald Head Island which really isn't an island but the very south end of this peninsula and really only accessible by ferry unless you want a very long walk. Cape Fear is the very southern most part of Bald Head Island and where there are the most incredible shoals extending way out -- you can see where it got its name!

There are numerous paths that  go through the dense undergrowth.  Just south of here you will often see deer coming out in the late afternoon.

It was an overcast cool day.

There were quite a number of the Buffleheads down in the water -- you can see a little of his iridescent head here even though there was very little sun (if any).

This is a Northern Gannet which generally stays pretty far off shore.  Note his striking black tipped wings.  

Although not a great picture, Bruce helped me identify this as a first year Bonaparte Gull.  He has striking black at the end of his tail as well as a border on his grey wings.  This is one I haven't identified before so we can check him off in the book now!  He was so distant that all I could tell was that he looked different from my normal Laughing and Ring Billed Gulls so I snapped a picture, hoping that I could blow it up on my computer and make an id and I did guess wrong.  I think gulls and terns are really hard to identify -- they have summer, winter, male, female and juvenile plummages which can vary incredibly!  They just all look like varying shades of grey with black and white!