Kure-osity - Warren's Black Ducks and More

I call this my "little bit of everything" picture. You may have to blow it up to see it all!! In the background is one of the dolphins that was swimming by -- didn't even notice him in the picture until I came home! In the foreground is a Bufflehead drake flying out of the water with a couple of other Buffleheads hanging around with the mysterious black ducks which we still haven't totally identified but think they are Black Ducks but maybe some that have inbred with something else. We were just clueless and looking at the bird books hasn't helped a lot.
This is another view of those black ducks that we still haven't definitely totally identified!

This was the beach area where the ducks were hanging out right at the south end of Kure Beach right before Ft. Fisher. There is a secret public beach access down there which I hadn't discovered before. It is a very pretty area and I will be back!

The weather continues to be nice and Warren wanted to show me the mysterious black ducks he sees each day on his walk so we headed out to the Ft. Fisher end of the beach. Neither of us had taken a path called the Basin Trail which is a 1.1 mile long sand and boardwalk path ending in the salt marshes at the end of the island. It was an interesting walk and not what either of us had expected (more woods as it started out that way). So a round trip is 2.2 miles and a bit of it is slogging through real sand so we got our day's exercise!

This is part of the pathway of the Basin Trail as we were heading back. I liked all the colors!

This was Warren looking at this WWII bunker which was one of the sights along the walk. Evidently a hermit lived here for 17 years and was really a local tourist attraction. It is hard to believe that anyone lived in this structure -- it has no windows and echoes something fierce. Despite how my dear husband is dressed, the weather is very pleasant!

This was a view on the Basin Trail showing the juxtaposition of the grasses and greenery.

On our way back to find the black ducks, there were a male and female Bufflehead swimming together with another male. I can't get enough of this beautiful duck!





This was one of the many Kildeer Plovers we have seen around here. There were a few of them hanging around the Ft. Fisher fields.

When Warren was trying to spot the black ducks, I saw these ducks out in the water. A nearby man identified them as Hooded Mergansers but I believe they are the Red Breasted Mergansers.

This is one of many, many Northern Mockingbirds we see around here constantly -- those, the Grackles and the Loggerhead Shrikes are the most common birds around here.

Here are the everpresent Grackles.

This is another one of those Loggerhead shrikes. Every time I think I have found a new bird, it turns out to be one of these!!

Back at the ranch, I set together the second set of kalaidoscope (pile and cut) blocks. These all have animals on them. This was my makeshift "design wall" but it got the job done! Now to get them all sewn together and some borders on.

Chilly in Kure - A Duck in Time Saves...

It's been really cool down here for this time of year but also extremely sunny which is what I had hoped for!! If the wind doesn't blow, I can still sit outside on the porch, watch the dolphins and read for awhile in only my sweatshirt!

I try to walk every day and love to vary the place. Today we went down and walked around a very small fresh water lake in Carolina Beach. I had seen Coots there before and wanted to see what was there today. It is a short walk but the sun was bright and the sky blue! This was a beautiful male mallard but I took the picture as I couldn't believe how orange his feet were!

This I believe is a Ruddy Duck -- it is one of those diving ducks and was rarely on top of the water.

There was a large flock of the American Coot which are so distinctive with their white beaks and black bodies.

I thought this grouping of three mallards was interesting. The one furthest away is obviously a regular old male mallard. The one in the middle according to the bird book is a variety of mallard caused by inbreeding. The one in the front with only the hind end showing is the Pekin Duck which is the domestic variety of the mallard! I didn't know that the common white domestic ducks were a variety of mallards!

While my old roommate was here, we ventured to downtown Wilmington for a walk but it was just too cold and windy earlier this week. You can see the brilliant blue sky though. The temps have stayed about the same but the winds have subsided now so walking is fine!

A Little Lax With My Blogs!

We have been very busy the past few days, picking out furniture for the new house and making arrangements for delivery from various furniture places! But we will finally have real beds, a sofa and some dining room furniture when we come back for Thanksgiving week!! The weather continues to be just beautiful and this northerner could get real used to living with this during the winter months!

Lisa leaves for Charlotte today but Warren and I will remain here and leave early Tuesday morning. Not only is furniture being delivered and set up tomorrow, but an old high school classmate and his wife are stopping by for a visit. They had bought a house just south of here last year and I read about it on our high school Yahoo list. So that will be fun. I have only seen him once in the past 45 years at the 35th high school reunion. I do remember his wife was a quilter and had a Bernina sewing machine which makes them a-okay in my book! It will be fun to hear more about the area. He and his family have vacationed down here since 1965 although they just bought the house last year.

This is the telephoto view of about where our house is with respect to the main pier in Kure Beach. You can't really see it in this picture but this is where the beach access is.

There were lots of fishermen out on this beautiful fall day. Fish were being caught only I couldn't tell you what kind. Yesterday we saw someone get a flounder from the beach.

Not sure what these very small birds were -- some sort of gull or tern I would guess but they were very small and not jittery like the little sandpipers we usually see.

I think this is some sort of sandpiper as well. It was a bit larger wading in the waves.

This is a bush growing in Lisa's back yard in Charlotte which I also couldn't identify but am sure it is something relatively common. We have seen a lot of it down here. I think I have seen oleander as well growing down here. Lots of painted daisies are growing up in the vacant lots as well as some palms and morning glories. I even saw a giant cactus reminiscent of the west -- it looked like a giant agave.