HATTERAS – As the days get shorter and the temperatures drop, the time has come for the North Carolina Ferry Division’s popular Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry route to switch to its winter schedules.
The following schedule takes effect on Tuesday, Nov. 7:
From Hatteras: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 a.m., noon, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11 p.m., midnight.
From Ocracoke:4:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, and 11:30 a.m., 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30,4:30, 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 9:30 and 10:30 p.m., 12:30 a.m.
For information on schedule interruptions due to weather or mechanical issues, follow the Ferry Division on Twitter @NCDOT_Ferry.
Lake Mattamuskeet on the mainland is in terrible shape.
Bald cypress tree seeds at Lake Mattamuskeet.
Virtually all of its subaquatic vegetation has disappeared along with declining water quality and changing lake levels. This lost vegetation that includes aquatic plants such as wild celery, pond weed, redhead grass and Eurasian milfoil, provides key food resources for migratory waterfowl and other birds as well as habitat for fish, crabs and many aquatic organisms.
Hyde County and other stakeholders have joined together to develop a voluntary watershed restoration plan. A second meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday (Nov. 7) in the Hyde County Government Complex, Swan Quarter.
Lake Mattamuskeet is popular for crabbing. Ryan McCuaig of Ocracoke, caught only a few crabs on his trip across the sound in early August.
The goal of the watershed restoration plan is to provide a blueprint for how to best address water quality and flooding issues that harm the lake’s fish and wildlife and affect nearby landowners.
Community members will hear a draft of the watershed restoration plan goals that were discussed and approved by the plan’s stakeholder group. Group members discuss goals and potential solutions to the lake watershed’s water quality and flooding problems and help develop action items for the plan.
Stakeholders include members of Hyde County’s residential, farming and hospitality communities, as well as Hyde County employees and representatives from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. The North Carolina Coastal Federation is helping develop the plan. An overview of core stakeholders and their responsibilities can be found here.
Other topics include an overview of water quality trends and submerged aquatic vegetation in the lake from Michelle Moorman of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will present on waterfowl trends.
Randall Etheridge, assistant professor in engineering at East Carolina University, will present on the current mapping and survey efforts being conducted at the lake. This mapping effort has helped Etheridge develop a preliminary outline of identified problems and solutions.
Once completed, the plan will explain how the lake should and does function, its current status and health, and will identify management options to address water quality and flooding. Upon approval, it can be used to secure grant funds for implementation.
Any questions can be directed to: Erin Fleckenstein 252 473-1607 or erinf@nccoast.org. Updated information about the plan development can be found at: www.nccoast.org/lakemattamuskeet. The next scheduled meeting will be Feb. 6, 2018.
Covering 40,000 acres and averaging only two to three feet in-depth, Lake Mattamuskeet is the largest natural lake in North Carolina.
Monday, Nov. 6 Hyde County Commissioners, Community Center, 6 pm Ocracoke Bar & Grille: Aaron Caswell, 8 pm
The Ocracoke Preservation Society will hold its fall membership meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Ocracoke Community Center.
Tuesday, Nov. 7
Community Center: Ocracokee Preservation Society fall membership meeting and potluck, 6 p.m. Gaffer’s: Texas Hold ‘Em Poker, 7 pm Coyote Music Den: Open Jam: sing, play, listen. All ages, all levels welcome; 7:30 to 9 pm; youth at 6:30. Sign up at info@coyotemusic.net. No charge; donations welcome.
Wednesday, Nov. 8 Gaffer’s: DJ Bingo, called WINGO with Rob King, 7 pm Coyote Music Den: Word Play 7 to 8:30 pm
Thursday, Nov. 9
Veterans honored by the students at Ocracoke School, 8:15 am. Ocracoke Bar and Grille: Kate McNally, 8 pm
Friday, Nov. 10 Coyote Music Den: Playing your Ocracoke Memories, Martin Garrish, 7:30 to 9:30 pm; doors at 7. Gaffer’s: Barefoot Wade, 9 pm
Saturday, Nov. 11 Festival Latino de Ocracoke, Grounds of Books to be Red, Ocracoke School, Ocracoke Community Center. 11 am to midnight. Ocracoke Oyster Co.: Martin Garrish and Lou Castro, 6 pm Gaffer’s: The Flow Vendors, 8 pm
Yellow-headed Blackbird with Brown-headed Cowbirds and a Common Grackle
To see more profiles of the Birds of Ocracoke, click here
Text and photos by Peter Vankevich
Fall migration is a time when unusual birds appear in unexpected locations. Such was the case on Ocracoke when a Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) showed up on Ocracoke on Oct. 17.
That afternoon, a large, noisy, mixed-flock of Common and Boat-tailed Grackles, Brown-headed Cowbirds and Mourning and Eurasian Collared Doves arrived in this reporter’s yard in Widgeon Woods, near the lighthouse, to feed on bird seed on the ground. Their appearance was not unusual, but then a different species appeared in a wax myrtle tree.
After perching for several minutes surveying the scene, the mystery bird swooped down and joined the others and began ravenously eating the seed. Unlike some birds whose plumage in the fall can make them a challenge to identify, this one was easy–a Yellow-headed Blackbird. This bird is well-named, and no other bird in North America looks similar.
The adult male in breeding plumage has a bright yellow head and breast, a black eye line and body and upper white wing patches that are noticeable in flight. Females and first-year males are less colorful as was this one, probably a first-year male.
Like the smaller Red winged Blackbird, these are water birds. They nest in fresh water marshes, prairie pot holes and mountain meadows of central and western North America. Their eastern most breeding range is Minnesota, Wisconsin, northwestern Indiana and northern Illinois.
They winter primarily in the southwest and Mexico.
In the spring, when the male arrives onto its breeding grounds, it will stake out a territory, driving off Red-wing Blackbirds, and attempt to attract several females which arrive a week or two later. The males are polygynous and will include between one and six females within a harem.
The females build nests on cattails, bulrushes and reeds over deeper water than red-wings and are primarily responsible for feeding the young.
During breeding season, they feed on and provide aquatic insects to their nestlings and they forage on cultivated grains and weed seeds during the post-breeding season.
The Yellow-headed Blackbird is strongly aggressive toward Marsh Wrens, probably because of the egg-destroying habits of these much smaller birds.
The male’s song is a short series of musical notes followed by a buzzy screech.
The term “rare bird” can be used two ways. It can mean a bird whose population is very small and perhaps in danger of extinction. It can also be used for species whose numbers are plentiful, but for an individual which strays beyond its distribution range into an area where they are not normally seen.
Recently, a Yellow-breasted Bunting showed up at a bird feeder on the southeast coast of Labrador. This is a Eurasian species, typically found in Russia and thousands of miles outside its range. It is also an endangered species.
In North Carolina, major storms can be responsible for providing rare birds. At other times, young birds which do not have the migration routes down, may head off in another direction ending up in areas such as the Outer Banks as this bird did.
So, Yellow-headed Blackbirds are considered rare in North Carolina and a delightful find when they show up. The one that appeared on Ocracoke was observed for only two days.
Best Time to see: Few sightings on Outer Banks late summer and fall
Where: Only one known sighting on Ocracoke, in village near lighthouse
Listen:
(audio provided courtesy of OhioLINK Digital Resource Commons)
Clickherefor the Birds of the Outer Banks Checklist
Yellow-headed Blackbird, note small white line in wing indicating a probable first year male
Gail Covington, a family nurse practitioner who most recently helmed the Hatteras Village Medical Center, has set up a home health care business on Ocracoke and Hatteras.
Covington, an Ocracoke resident, will travel to anyone’s home or business for consultation and treatment with her newly formed Island Mobile Medical Care.
“I want to provide a reasonably-priced care,” she said on Friday. “You’d be surprised how many people don’t have insurance.”
She said there is a need for what she will provide, both on Hatteras and Ocracoke.
“We have a health center here that’s affordable (because it’s a federally subsidized health center),” she said, “but Hatteras has more limited services.”
In her new role, Covington will follow patients’ medical problems, treat illnesses, order tests and procedures, refer patients to other providers (if needed), give physicals and write prescriptions for your medications.
She will continue repairing cuts and fishhook injuries and perform sports physicals, mariner and captain’s license exams and DOT physicals (for CDL licenses).
She will be able to administer medications but will not be able to dispense them.
Covington’s job as medical provider of the Hatteras clinic ended Oct. 9 after the board of directors of that facility decided to close its doors.
Since then, Covington has been pondering her next move and decided to go this route at some of her patients’ request. See her open letter by clicking here.
“I have a lot of pre-existing patients who want me to follow them,” she said, and will travel as far as Avon to treat them.
As of now, she cannot file insurance claims. All patients will pay at the time of their visits and those with insurance will then receive the necessary information to file an insurance claim for reimbursement.
Covington will not be on-call 24/7, but anyone interested in continuing or in establishing care with her can call 252-996-0511 and leave a voice message with name and phone number for a call back.
The Affordable Care Act has survived several repeal attempts by congressional Republicans and the Trump administration, and while it is still the law of the land, there have been changes.
Open enrollment for the ACA began on Nov. 1 and will last for only six weeks, ending Dec. 15. This is a significantly shorter duration than the 13 weeks in the last several years.
People interested in enrolling are strongly urged to sign up as early as possible to avoid last-minute problems that could result in not getting health insurance.
Enrollment is for anyone who buys individual health insurance directly from an insurance company, through an insurance agent or on healthcare.gov. The phone number for HealthCare.gov is 800-318-2596
Approximately 500,000 people in North Carolina are expected to sign up. ACA open enrollment does not apply to those who buy health insurance through their employer or through a federal program like Medicare, Medicaid or Tricare. In past years, it was possible to buy an individual health insurance policy off the ACA exchange, offering additional options for people who made too much money to qualify for subsidies, but those plans will not be available in 2018.
North Carolinians can get assistance from a N.C. health care navigator who is trained to help consumers get affordable coverage on HealthCare.gov, which is the Health Insurance Marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act.
Navigators help consumers understand the details of the plans available on the Marketplace, apply for financial assistance and complete the enrollment process. All navigator appointments are free and confidential. The website ishttps://ncnavigator.net/.
The following is reprinted with permission from NC Health News
Insurance Enrollment Period Starts Amid Confusion, Sense of Urgency
Advocates say they’ll have to work harder to broadcast their message amid the noise coming from Washington and elsewhere.
By Rose Hoban
Wade Patrick didn’t think he could get insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges this year.
“I thought it was gone; I was hearing that it was gone,” said the 56-year-old electrician who had insurance last year through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. “Everybody is just confused; nobody really knows.”
But on Wednesday afternoon, Patrick’s wife saw something on television about an enrollment event and encouraged him to come down to Martin Street Baptist Church in southeast Raleigh to enroll.
In prior years, the airwaves were full of advertisements such as this one
encouraging people to enroll. But the Trump administration cut funding for ads
by 90 percent this year.
Patrick needed to sign up – again – since his insurance lapsed when he missed a couple of payments after he had surgery on his left hip earlier this year.
“During recovery, it slipped my mind and it got past me,” he said. By the time he realized he’d missed payments and started paying again, he’d been cut off.
And Patrick needs surgery on the other hip, which gives him constant pain.
“I’ve been trying to work and just by the grace of God, my boss-man has been kind enough to let me do light work,” he said. But Patrick can’t kneel down, can’t get into a tiny crawl space or climb a ladder, the way electricians need to. “That’s only gonna last so long before he’s gonna have to get someone to replace me.” So, he was pleased he would be able to re-enroll. He needed a couple more documents and left the church with a list of other events coming up in the Raleigh area.
He doesn’t have a lot of time. This year’s enrollment period is only six weeks, compared to 13 weeks in years past. Advertising dollars have been cut to the bone and federal officials say they’re taking the insurance website offline for 12 hours every weekend “for maintenance.”
Find help enrolling for ACA insurance: The NC Navigator Consortium website has a list of enrollment events if you scroll down.
You can call 1-855-733-3711 to get an appointment.
Or use the Connector App to find someone near you to help you sign up.
Sense of urgency
“People just don’t understand the state of play right now,” said Jennifer Simmons, from theNorth Carolina Navigator Consortium. She recounted doing a phone bank event at Raleigh television station WRAL where more than 700 consumers called in.
Jeff and Yvonne Winters arrived for their appointments to find insurance on Wednesday. They both said they were hoping to get coverage for some preexisting conditions. Photo credit: Rose Hoban
“The first phone call I got was from a woman who said, ‘I have coverage, through the marketplace, I’ve got a premium tax credit and I’ve heard that it’s going away,’” Simmons said. “This is exactly what I was afraid that people are thinking.”
She said a good crowd showed up first thing Wednesday morning.
“We had a lot of consumers signed up for 10 a.m. appointments and much higher show rate than other years on the first day of enrollment,” said Simmons, who said people seemed to display a sense of urgency.
“The biggest question I got was about financial assistance and whether the ACA was still around,” said Wilma Metcalfe from Advanced Community Health Center in Raleigh. “That kind of misinformation is our biggest obstacle at this point as well as the shortened time frame.”
Certified application counselor John Curran from Advanced worked with four people throughout the day Wednesday.
“It’s always a good thing to help people get health insurance,” he said. But two of them went away empty-handed because they were unable to meet the income thresholds to qualify for financial assistance.
“That can be a little downer,” he said. “But there are resources out there for them.”
In previous years, more than 90 percent of North Carolinians signing up for insurance under the ACA qualified for financial help, and the state was a success story for getting more than a half million people to sign up for coverage.
Get covered
According tohealth care market analyst firm Avalere Health, premiums for a silver plan in North Carolina are, on average, 16 percent more expensive than last year, but the increase was lower than the average 34 percent uptick nationwide. Nonetheless, the cost of a benchmark plan in North Carolina is $871 per month, the seventh highest premium in the country.
Researcher Mark Hall from Wake Forest University wrote in an analysis published earlier this yearby the Brookings Institutionthat North Carolina’s insurance marketplace had gradually become more competitive over the first three years of open enrollment. By the end of 2016, two national insurers – Aetna and UnitedHealthcare – were selling ACA plans in the state alongside BCBSNC.
Hall surmised that had the Affordable Care Act not been undermined by the current administration, losses sustained by insurers in the first few years of enrollment would have evaporated and the market would have stabilized further.
In prior years, there was money for branded buttons, pencils, even little blue piggy banks to give out as reminders. But this year, there’s no money for any swag, and Jennifer Simmons from the NC Navigator Consortium said they’ll use what’s left over until it’s gone. Photo credit: Rose Hoban
This year, only one other carrier – Cigna – is selling plans in the state in only five counties.
Finding help
In years past, Enroll America, an organization that promoted the insurance marketplaces across the state, had corralled interested consumers and had run a website connecting insurance navigators with clients using a ZIP code-based locator.
But Enroll America’s funding ran out in the past year. Now the ZIP code app is being maintained by a DC-based grassroots organization called Young Invincibles.
“We constantly work to update the app and keep it as accurate as possible,” said Maani Stewart, with the organization. He just returned from North Carolina where he was training navigators who assist people with their healthcare.gov applications.
He estimates that consumers can reach about 100 navigators and certified assisters in North Carolina through the app.
Lighthouse Road trick-or-treating road on Ocracoke. Photo: C. Leinbach
By Richard Taylor
There may have been as many adult participants in costume strolling village streets Halloween night Tuesday as there were candy-seeking kids.
Warm weather certainly helped the turnout for this annual Halloween tradition, as parents led their offspring along Lighthouse and Loop roads—the main trick-or-treating spot–some on golf carts, but most walking.
Unlike mainland towns, where strolling groups of gremlins and ghouls usually walk up and ring door bells, or ride around in their parent’s cars from neighborhood to neighborhood, on Ocracoke treat-givers usually gather at road’s edge, with containers of candy ready for the taking.
At Pirate’s Quay on Silver Lake Road, Marci Mason gives treats to Louka Burleson and Charlie Daniels. Photo: Richard Taylor
It’s like a big block party because almost everybody knows everybody. Many permanent residents have been doling out goodies in the same spot for years.
The corner of Lighthouse and Creek roads at Albert Styron’s Store was a particularly popular spot for neighbors to mingle as they passed out their bounty.
Marci and Charlie Mason split their time between Ocracoke and Charlottesville, Va. Bathed by the setting sun, the couple handed out candy across from Pirate’s Quay on Silver Lake Road.
Red and Ashley Harrell, who own Gaffer’s, ferried six kids (Malli, Payce, Juliette, Bailey, Sebastian and Sawyer) down Silver Lake on a large, triple-seater golf cart.
A block away, Gary and Trisha Davis handed out loot in front of their Lighthouse Road home, along with boating visitors Dennis and Marlene Mullins from both Kansas City, Mo., and the River Dunes area north of Oriental on the Intracoastal Waterway.
The Mullins’ had tied up their catamaran-style sailboat at the NPS docks on Silver Lake for two weeks and said they had a perfect ring-side seat for last Saturday’s afternoon’s Battle of Ocracoke three-ship boat skirmish during Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree.
Tenth-grader David Styron adds some terror to the evening dressed up as Stephen King’s ‘It.’ Photo: C. Leinbach
Farther down Lighthouse Road, island contractor Woody Billings was arrayed in his 30-year-old Wizard of Oz Tin Man costume made from HVAC ducts. Billings had sprayed his face, hair and hands with silver paint. With a large painted funnel for a hat, he looked the part.
Children and adults alike were reluctant to approach too closely to young David Styron, who was decked out as the scary Stephen King’s “It” clown, and a group of visiting women were costumed as characters in Dr. Seuss’s “The Cat in the Hat” while handing out candy.
Charles and Ann O’Neal sported cat faces as they handed out candy.
Similar sightings were seen all over the village.
On this island with limited shopping opportunities, numerous houses were well decorated with splendid Halloween themes.
Later in the evening, older kids carried out an island tradition of throwing eggs at each other and passers by. Some residue of those shenanigans was still visible on Back Road Wednesday morning.
Red and Ashley Harrell play chauffeur Halloween night. Photo: Richard TaylorGary and Trisha Davis greet trick-or-treaters along Lighthouse Road. Photo: Richard TaylorAdults costumed as Dr. Seusss Cat in the Hat characters join in the trick-or-treaters on Lighthouse Roads. Photo: C. LeinbachWoody Billings is the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. Photo: Richard Taylor
Hyde County Schools Superintendent Dr. Randolph Latimore will hold his annual fall community meeting at Ocracoke School at 5 p.m. today (Nov. 2) in the school commons area.
While primarily of importance to students and parents, the public at large is invited to attend as well. This get-together provides an opportunity for anyone to ask anything about the county or state school system.
With only two school campuses — Ocracoke and Mattamuskeet — Hyde has N.C.’s second smallest student enrollment in the state at 609, just barely larger than Tyrrell, with 594 pupils.
Latimore will hold another public information meeting at Ocracoke School in the spring.
Dozens of dressed-up kids, parents and even decorated dogs marched around the Ocracoke School traffic circle Friday afternoon as judges selected winners in six costume categories during annual PTA Halloween Parade and Fundraising Carnival.
The ghostly gathering of ghouls included jesters, witches and depictions of the rock, paper and scissors game, Star Wars and Spiderman costumes, kids dressed as old codgers with walkers and many more. Some parents pulled wagons filled with youngsters while others snapped numerous smart phone photos from every angle.
After a few circuits around the circle, Ivy Belch, PTA president, announced winners.
Wearing a yellow safety vest, hard hat and over-sized opaque, paper “glasses,” while carrying an upside-down “information” sign, Petros Burleson, son of Adam Burleson, physical education teacher, won the funniest prize for his depiction of a PCL Construction worker. The costume stemmed from this past summer’s week-long power outage when PCL crews rebuilding the Bonner Bridge dropped a steel casing severing the main power to Hatteras and Ocracoke islands for a week. This was Petros’s ninth year straight winning a costume award.
Prizes were also awarded to Uriah Johnson (scariest), Alyssa Bryant (most creative), Iris McClain, Maren Donlon, Maggie Evans and Katie
Asher Mason wins best-pirate costume.
Kinnion (most original for Pink Ladies), Asher Mason (best pirate) and to Max Elicker.
Gavin Elicker won best of show for Yamaha 250, depicting a boy dressed as a boat motor walking behind a wagon carrying children fishing. At the end of their fishing line, a dog in a goldfish suit pulled the wagon.
Winners received gift certificates from the Slushy Stand.
On the playground along Back Road, kids navigated an inflatable slide and two bouncy houses while parents mingled with pirates.
Under the school sign behind the circle, Hyde Co. Sheriff Guire Cahoon, Deputies Blackburn Warner and Rob King, and Health Dept. Public Educator Anna Motteler manned a table for hours. The group had hoped to collect expired, unwanted or unused medicines for a Prescription Drug Take Back Event. Due to an apparent lack of publicity, no drugs were recovered Friday, but a medication drop box is always available at the sheriff’s office on Irvin Garrish Hwy.
Activities then shifted to the gym. There artist Jessi Franklin painted cat whiskers and Halloween themed figures on the cheeks and noses of willing kids, while others shot basketballs, “fished” for rewards and tested their skills at various games of chance, hoping to win tickets they could trade-in for booty at the prize table.
Kneeling down on the gym’s floor, Ocracoke Sheriff Capt. Jason Daniels showed kids how to handle bows and arrows at they tried their luck hitting an archery target bull’s eye yards away.
Volunteers helped the PTA sell hot dogs, Mexican food and baked goods in the multi-use area beside the gym. On the basketball floor, Belch played ominous Halloween music before calling winning numbers during the cake walk event. A raffle of numerous donated items ended the inside activities.
Near dusk, Nelson Adams pulled trailer after trailer full of giggling riders around a looping circuit for the Howard Street Hayride.
During Saturday’s Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree, fifth-grade teacher Jeanie Owens, her husband, fourth grade teacher Jeramy Guillory and several students sold smoked turkey legs and Ocracoke School cookbooks at Community Square to help finance the fifth-grade spring-time bus trip touring various North Carolina and Virginia historical sites.
Petros Burleson wins funniest costume for his rendition of the power outage in July.Capt. Jason Daniels instructs Charles Lewis in Archery
Coyote Music Den: All Alone and Lonely: An Evening of Haunting Appalachian Folklore. 8 pm, Doors at 7:30 pm Gaffer’s: Texas Hold ‘Em Poker, 7 pm Gaffer’s: Barefoot Wade, 9 pm
Wednesday, Nov. 1 Coyote Music Den: Word Play, 7 to 8:30 pm. If you love words, bring something you wrote, read, heard and share; listen or tell a story. No charge; donations welcome
Thursday, Nov. 2 Ocracoke Bar & Grille: Kate McNally, 8 pm
Martin Garrish performs with Lou Castro, 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, at Ocracoke Oyster Co.
Friday, Nov. 3 Coyote Music Den: Playing your Ocracoke Memories, Martin Garrish; 7:30 to 9:30 pm; doors at 7. Gaffer’s: The Flow Vendors, 8 pm
Saturday, Nov. 4 Ocracoke United Methodist Church: Fundraiser Lunch at Rec Hall, 10:30 a.m. Ocracoke Oyster Co.: Martin Garrish and Lou Castro, 6 pm Gaffer’s: The Flow Vendors, 8 pm
