Channeled whelk found on Ocracoke. Photo by Peter Vankevich
The N.C. Shell Club will make its annual shelling trip to Ocracoke Friday, March 23 and Saturday, 24.
After the day spent scouring the beach, there will be meetings both nights at 7 p.m. in the Community Center and members of the public are invited to join them. For those interested, individual memberships are $15 per year, family $20.
John Timmerman holds the subfossil of a Scaphella junonia found by Amy Dick on last year’s adventure to Portsmouth Island. Photo by Peter Vankevich
Saturday evening, in addition to some great food and a shell silent auction, will feature islander Dave Frum who will talk about Portsmouth Island. Frum worked for years as a National Park Service part-time employee responsible for maintenance of the village. He has seen the effects of hurricanes over the years.
Saturday, weather permitting, the group will head over to Portsmouth in search of rare shells. Saturday evening will feature a chili supper, a silent auction for prized shells and Dr. Doug Wolfe and his wife, Nancy, will talk about shells found on their visit to Thailand.
These talks are open to the public, and those who have in interest in the regional shells are encouraged to attend and sign up as members.
Founded in 1957, the club’s mission promotes scientific and educational interest in the collecting and the study of mollusks and allied fauna.
To read about Amy Dick’s superfind on Portsmouth Island last year, clickhere.
The Lucky Charmers of Morehead City hit the jackpot Saturday as the winners of the Third Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Photo by Richard Taylor
Updated March 20, 2018. 2 p.m.
By Richard Taylor
The Lucky Charmers from Morehead City finally found the jackpot at the end of the rainbow when they captured the first prize in Saturday’s Third Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
The group of 10 women sported custom-made T-shirts, each with her own name on the back, such as, “O’ Shenanigan, O’Sassy Lass, O’Blitzed, O’Schnockered” and “O’Tanked.”
Also known as “The O’Bar Drinking Team,” they were a crowd favorite as they rode laughing down the road on their bikes decorated with green streamers.
The second-place parade winners are Keith and Crystal Hardt of Washington, N.C. Photo by Richard Taylor
Zach the Leprechaun, grand poohbah of tomfoolery, awarded them the $550 cash prize inside the Ocracoke Bar & Grille, the parade terminus.
“We donated $100 to the ball field,” said Carlie Quillen of Newport.
Second-place went to Keith and Crystal Hardt, part-time islanders from Washington, N.C, with their huge green hat and rainbow-decorated golf cart.
The Jeffrey Walter and Jessica Caldwell family of Ocracoke captured third place with their car topped by a huge green hat.
Under cloudy skies and a few raindrops, parade-watchers and participants gathered at 1718 Brewing Ocracoke where the parade began at 1:30 p.m.
Leprechauns of all sizes in green gear, pastel painted ponies, emerald beer in the bars and shamrock symbols were everywhere on Saturday.
A dozen or so entries provided ample entertainment to onlookers scattered along both sides of Irvin Garrish Highway.
Parade sponsor and “O’Bar” owner Sean Death began the parade two years ago.
“Every year we reach out and hire a little person,” he said. “It’s like their biggest holiday of the year and they can come here and make a bit of loot.”
This year, Death hired Zach Morris of Tucson, Arizona. Riding majestically on the back of Death’s golf cart, Morris blew his whistle to start the parade. He tossed candy to spectators and kids along the quarter-mile route.
Woccocon Oyster Co. owner Steve Wilson rode in his fishing boat pulled by a pickup. The waterman stopped often to pass out the freshly shucked oysters to eager patrons. Wilson was all smiles, as he gave away nearly 100 of the briny bi-valves during the parade.
Stevie Wilson hands out his Woccocon oysters in the parade. Photo by Richard Taylor
A group of Ocracat supporters asked the question “What was Blackbeard’s 1718 quest?” Printed on green poster board, the answer read, “To find an Ocracat.” A menacing, mysterious person in a huge papier mache lion mask pranced behind that cart, brandishing a plastic cutlass as if trying to scare 300 years of fear into onlookers.
Angela Long, riding with son Jordan DeLeon on horse Clayton (who turned 7 on Saturday), and daughter Kayli DeLeon on miniature mount Rosie, brought up the parade’s end. This local family of riders had carefully groomed their horse’s manes and hooves with green dye.
While many locals participated, some came a quite a distance to party on the island.
Doug and Tracy Kasper, with their son, A.J., came from Manasquan, N.J., for the weekend to celebrate Tracy’s 50th birthday on Saturday.
“It’s my favorite place,” Tracy said above the din of the partying crowd in the O’Bar.
Six appropriately adorned “Drunks” drove down from Chesapeake, Virginia, Friday night, unaware of the pending parade.
Green ponies with Angela Long, daughters Jordan and Kayli DeLeon, are part of the parade. Photo by Richard Taylor
The group got their St. Patty’s Day gear from a midnight run to Walmart on the way.
“We didn’t know this was going on,” said group leader Dave Harrington. “We just came down here for the heck of it.” He said the parade would keep the group “out of trouble for half an hour.”
That gregarious group of six wore T-shirts reading “Drunk 1, Drunk 2, Drunk 3” and so on. Member Andy Macey showed off his goatee brushed with green dye.
“We’ll be here next here year too,” said Bruce Davidson said.
Death was happy with the turnout, noting some repeat parade entries.
“I love all the participation, and also from the island,” he said. “Promoting the other businesses is awesome.”
A car topped by a huge green hat by Jeffrey Walter and Jessica Caldwell family captures third place. Photo by Richard TaylorRecording the parade action. Photo by Richard TaylorBlackbeard’s Quest is to find an Ocracat. Photo by Richard Taylor‘Drunks’ and friends from Chesapeake enjoy the day with Zach the Leprechaun in the O’Bar. Photo by Richard TaylorSavana Harwood serves green brew at 1718 Brewing Ocracoke, the island’s new craft brewery, where the St. Patrick’s Day parade began. Photo by Richard Taylor
A rare Trumpeter Swan photographed on Ocracoke March 18, 2018.
For an update on the Trumpeter Swan on Ocracoke, click here
Text and photos by Peter Vankevich
Ocracoke has another rare avian visitor this winter, a subadult Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator). This the largest native North American waterfowl.
In January, a Purple Gallinule, normally found farther south, was spotted by islanders Heather Johnson and Claire Senseney that you can read about here.
Here is a caveat: Distinguishing a Trumpeter Swan from the Tundra Swan (that winters in great numbers in the Lake Mattamuskeet region of Hyde County and in the water impoundments of the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge) can be tricky. Several good birders I checked with and reviewed the photos I sent, agreed this bird is a Trumpeter.
Another caveat: For good parts of the day, this swan has been in a marsh area at Southpoint over the past two weeks or so. It should not be disturbed by attempting to get too close. It is very active and does fly off.
Although once abundant and geographically widespread, the Trumpeter Swan’s historic breeding range extended from the Bering Sea east through almost all of Canada and south to Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
But by the early 20th century, their numbers plummeted nearly to extinction as they were hunted for their skin, feathers, meat and eggs. The soft swan skins were commercially used in powder puffs, their down for stuffing pillows, and white feathers for hats and quill pens. Passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 gave protection to Trumpeter Swans and other birds and helped curb illegal killing.
Despite this protection, by the mid-1930s, only about 75 individuals were known to exist in the wild at remote locations near Yellowstone National Park. There was a report that in 1949, the Director of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service considered Trumpeter Swans “the fourth rarest bird now remaining in America.”
But in the early 1950s, a previously unknown population of these swans was discovered around the Copper River in Alaska.
Due to conservation efforts that include protection from shooting, habitat conservation and management, they made a comeback. The Trumpeter Swan Society website notes that, based on a survey in 2010, there were more than 46,000 individuals, a significant increase from the 3,700 swans counted in 1968, which was the first range-wide Trumpeter Swan survey count. The vast proportion of these waterfowl live in Alaska.
Efforts to reintroduce this bird into other areas of its original range, and to introduce it elsewhere, have had some success. According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are about 10,000 in the Midwest and approximately 500 in the region of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. The very few individuals that have made it this far east are believed to be from the Midwest.
This is a bird of many superlatives. It is one of the heaviest living birds or animals capable of flight, weighing between 15 to 30 lbs. The wingspan can vary from 6 to 8 feet. It also has a long lifespan, with one living in the wild determined to be 23 years old.
So, how can one distinguish a Trumpeter from a Tundra Swan? Although, the Trumpeter is much larger, unless the two species are next to each other, size alone can be difficult.
David Sibley, author of several guide books, notes on his website the Trumpeter Swan calls, from which it gets its name, are “mainly a gentle honk, like a single short toot on a trumpet, repeated; often in series of two to three notes: “do-do-doo.” Tundra Swans, formerly called Whistling Swans, have higher-pitched calls.
The swan presently on Ocracoke is very vocal, often making a single honk call.
He also notes that the Trumpeter’s eye is broadly connected to the black bill, whereas the Tundra’s eye appears nearly separate from the bill. Tundra Swans have a shorter more concave bill and has some yellow at the base.
This swan still shows second year plumage, full adults are pure white.
How rare is this bird in North Carolina? There are a few records of sightings in North Carolina, including.at Lake Mattamuskeet a couple of years ago, but Trumpeter Swans are not on the Birds of the Outer Banks checklist .
Monday, March 19 Community Center: N.C. Ferry Division meeting, 3 p.m., Ocracoke Advisory Planning Board to discuss the Silver Lake Harbor Ordinance, 4:30 p.m., followed by joint meeting with the Ocracoke Waterways Commission, 5:30 p.m. Ocracoke Bar and Grille: Live Music, 7 pm
Tuesday, March 20 Gaffer’s: Texas Hold ‘Em Poker, 7 pm Coyote Den: Open music jam: All ages, all levels players, singers, listeners. Bring instrument. No charge; donations welcome. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 21 Community Center: N.C. Cooperative Extension Spring Vegetable Garden Clinic with an emphasis on container gardening. 3-5 pm Gaffer’s: Trivia Night, 7 pm Coyote Den: Word Play. 7 to 8:30 p.m. If you love words, bring something you wrote, read, heard and share; listen or tell a story. No charge, but donations welcome.
Thursday, March 22 Ocracoke School: STEAM Fair. School gym. 2 pm Ocracoke Bar & Grille: Live Music, 7 pm
Friday, March 23 Community Center: North Carolina Shell Club, 7 pm. All are welcome. Coyote Music Den: Martin Garrish & Friends open a new season of “Playing Your Ocracoke Memories,” 8 p.m. (doors at 7), an evening of foot-tapping music for the whole family played by Cultural Heritage Award winner Garrish, Coyote and special guests each week. Box office inside the adjacent OCBA Visitor’s Center.
Saturday, March 24 Ocracoke Oyster Co.: Martin Garrish, 6 pm Community Center: North Carolina Shell Club, 7 pm. All are welcome. Ocracoke Bar & Grille: Live Music, 7 pm
Weather on Ocracoke is always a factor and the CoCoRaHS is seeking volunteers to help monitor it. Photo: C. Leinbach
NEWPORT–The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow network is seeking volunteer weather observers across coastal North Carolina and especially rural areas and the coast.
CoCoRaHS, (pronounced KO-ko-rozz), established in 1998, is a grassroots volunteer network of thousands of backyard weather observers of all ages and backgrounds who measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow) in their local communities.
After big events like January’s winter storms and past hurricanes (Matthew, Hermine, Irene), reports from CoCoRaHS volunteers become a part of the local weather history.
Volunteers must use an official four-inch plastic rain gauge, purchased through the website for about $31 plus shipping, and are required to take a simple training module online and use the CoCoRaHS website to submit their reports.
For details, click on the “Join CoCoRaHS” emblem on the upper right side of the main website.
The website contains a list of current training sessions in local areas, or training can be done online.
Observations are immediately available on the website for the public to view, said David Glenn, CoCoRaHS state co-coordinator and meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Newport/Morehead City.
The process takes only five minutes a day, but the impact to the community is tenfold: By providing high quality, accurate measurements, the observers supplement existing networks and provide useful data to scientists, resource managers and decision makers.
Glenn said volunteers are especially needed in rural locations, areas of higher terrain, and areas near the coast.
“A benefit of the program to the National Weather Service is the ability to receive timely reports of significant weather (hail, intense rainfall, or localized flooding) from CoCoRaHS observers that can assist forecasters in issuing and verifying warnings for severe thunderstorms,” he said.
“Monitoring weather and climate conditions in North Carolina is no easy feat,” said Heather Dinon Aldridge, assistant state climatologist and interim assistant director of the State Climate Office, based at North Carolina State University. “CoCoRaHS volunteers help by painting a better picture of precipitation patterns across North Carolina, filling in data gaps where there are no nearby stations.”
CoCoRaHS came about as a result of a devastating flash flood that hit Fort Collins, Colorado, in July 1997. A local severe thunderstorm dumped over a foot of rain in several hours while other portions of the city had only modest rainfall. The ensuing flood caught many by surprise and caused $200 million in damages.
North Carolina became the twenty-first state to establish the CoCoRaHS program in 2007, and by 2010, the CoCoRaHS network had reached all 50 states with nearly 10,000 observations being reported each day.
CoCoRaHS North Carolina can also be reached onFacebook and Twitter.
Open now: Eduardo’s Tacos 1718 Brewing Ocracoke, Open 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Starting the week before Easter, open from noon until 9 p.m. Plum Pointe Kitchen inside tentatively will be open by Easter. The Fudge & Ice Cream Shop (Community Square) Gaffers, Monday specials are fajitas, enchiladas and margaritas Ocracoke Bar & Grille Ocracoke Station Jason’s Restaurant Zillie’s Island Pantry: Starting March 2, hours will expand along with the warmer weather. Sunday-Thursday, 4 to 7:30 p.m.; Friday, 4 to 8 p.m.; Saturday: 1 to 8 p.m. St. Patrick’s Day Weekend, Daily: 1 to 8 p.m. March Wine Tastings: Easter Wine Tasting, March 31, 6 p.m. Pony Island Restaurant
Re-opening in March: Ocracoke Oyster Co opens Saturday, March 17 Dajio opens Wednesday, March 28 New hours: Brunch/Lunch, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Lunch/Dinner, 3 to 9 p.m.; Shrimp hour, daily 3 to 5 p.m.; Pizza: Tuesday to Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m. Closed Monday Ocracoke Coffee Co. opens end of March Howard’s Pub opens Friday, March 23. Slushy Stand, opens Sunday, March 25 The Back Porch, opens Friday, March 30 to Sunday, April 8, then is open just Friday, Saturday and Sunday until Friday, April 27, when full schedule resumes. Flying Melon opens Thursday, April 12 Jolly Roger and Smacnally’s open weather dependent
Businesses, renters and residents who lost power last summer after a transmission line was cut during construction of the new Bonner Bridge could get a share of $10.35 million under a preliminary settlement pending in federal court.
The settlement, which still needs final approval in U.S. District Court, calls for payouts from PCL Civil Constructors of $8.1 million to businesses and $2.25 million to permanent residents and renters.
Separate actions by numerous plaintiffs were consolidated last year into a class-action suit that led to the agreement.
Electrical power was cut July 27 when the company building the replacement for the 50-year-old bridge drove a steel casing into the electrical transmission system running underground on the Pea Island side of Oregon Inlet.
Casings are giant tubes that enclose individual concrete pilings to keep them in position during installation. Workers were setting aside the casing for future use by driving it partially into the ground.
After the power went out, Dare and Hyde counties ordered mandatory evacuations of visitors during one of the busiest times of the tourist season.
Electricity was restored eight days later after Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative bypassed the underground section with overhead wires.
The settlement also calls for the company to pay up to $100,000 in court costs. It caps attorney’s fees at $3.4 million.
Court papers named a firm to handle notices of the settlement and to set up a website for posting information and downloading claim forms. An administrator was named to handle claim forms and certify if an applicant qualifies for payment and how much.
Potential claimants can also file a request for an exclusion. Otherwise, they will not be able to pursue their own legal action once the deal is finalized, according to the settlement.
“The settlement agreement is the result of extensive arm’s-length negotiations by experienced counsel over the course of three days of mediation and assisted by experienced mediator Donald H. Beskind,” court papers filed March 9 said.
Katie Kinnion address students, teachers and parents at Ocracoke School during a student demonstration against gun violence March 14. Photo by Richard Taylor
By Richard Taylor
“We are a generation that can change the world. As a student, I want to make sure that happens,” Ocracoke seventh-grader Katie Kinnion said shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday, as dozens of Dolphins joined hundreds of thousands of their counterparts across the nation in a protest against gun violence.
This student-led demonstration day took place nearly 19 years after the first such school shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999. Since then, many such shootings have occurred across the nation, both in schools and elsewhere, most recently on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida.
Some 51 middle and high school students, parents and staff gathered in the Ocracoke School gym for the event.
After Kinnion spoke, 17 students came forward to each read a name of the 14 students and three staff killed in Parkland. Then, an eerie 17-minute silence fell over the normally noisy Ocracoke School gym as everyone in attendance was quiet with their thoughts.
During the observance, several middle-school students stood at mid-court, each holding a hand-lettered poster. Some read: “Protect kids, not guns,” “Our lives are more important than your guns,” and “School is for learning, not lockdowns.”
Principal Leslie Cole told the assembly that this incident had really affected students here as well as across the nation.
“I want to applaud our own students for coming up and speaking up the way they did,” she said. “One of the great things about this movement is getting the students involved. This is a great generation, and you need to know that. Job well done, students.”
Some principals across the nation did not have the same supportive attitude, marking students absent for walking out.
Ocracoke School Principal Leslie Cole applauds the students for taking a stand. Photo by Richard Taylor
While students in many school across North Carolina also held walkouts, Gov. Roy Cooper tweeted his support.
Cole said the walkout was the students’ idea, though not all of the 173 students in the school participated. Students in third through fifth grades discussed the issues in their classrooms.
“It’s a heavy topic, a delicate situation,” she said.
Upon leaving the gym, one parent was heard saying, “Seventeen! What would that do to us here?”
Hyde County School Superintendent Dr. Randolph Latimore, who had been on the island to meet with Cole, encouraged students to make their voices heard.
“This was a great lesson in civic responsibility,” he said while stopping at Gaffers to order food before catching the ferry. “We absolutely support what the students are doing. We’re teaching children how to become responsible citizens, to share their concerns in a peaceful and constructive manner and to let their opinions be known.”
Lattimore said the Mattamuskeet campus held a similar walkout.
“I think the school system would fall short if it did not embrace teaching children to exercise this freedom we have,” he said.
The Ocracoke School Beta Club is making plans to attend a national march on March 24 in Washington, D.C., and will hold a bake sale at noon Saturday at the Variety Store to raise funds for the trip.
“Í can’t think of a better field trip than for these kids to go (to D.C.) for that march,” said former Ocracoke Special Ed teacher Karen Lovejoy.
Cole said an observance might take place that day on Ocracoke.
“This will be another chance for you to come out and make your voice heard,” she told the gathering.
Originally, the walkout was planned for in front of the flagpole, but a light rain prompted a move into the gym. By 10 a.m., the sun came out and the rain had stopped.
As she proceeded down the breezeway back to her office, a few white flakes floated down on the pathway.
Cole smiled and quipped, “Look, snowflakes from heaven.”
17 Ocracoke students stand in silence for 17 minutes in honor of the 17 students and staff who died Feb. 14 in Parkland, Florida. Photo by Richard Taylor
Islanders Liz Hotchkiss and Solomon and Lisa Vergara-Cobos will talk about their December trip to Santiago Tuxtla in the state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, at the Friends of the Library annual meeting tonight in the Ocracoke Community Library, Back Road.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the public.
Hotchkiss, whose late husband Chuck was a mentor to Solomon, said the family invited her to visit their home town during the Christmas holidays.
“It’s not a tourist area,” Hotchkiss said about this region, and will show about 20 photos of the trip.
While there, she experienced the holiday traditions and ceremonies, and had indigenous foods, some of which will be available–including a special drink–for attendees to sample tonight.
The 2017 St. Patrick’s Day parade on Ocracoke gets underway. This year’s event begins at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at either the Ocracoke Station or 1718 Brewing Ocracoke. Photo: C. Leinbach
A new “Leprechaun,” Zach, will visit Ocracoke to be the Grand Poohbah of Tomfoolery on St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday (March 17).
Sponsored and hosted by the Ocracoke Bar & Grille, Zach, who hails from Arizona, will lead parade that will begin at 1:30 p.m. at 1718 Brewing Ocracoke and head down Irvin Garrish Highway.
The parade will end at the “O’Bar” where the cash prize of $550 and runners-up will be announced after Zach has made his decision. No registration is necessary.
“Just be in the parade when it begins,” said Sean Death, O’Bar proprietor.
A pre-party begins at 11:30 a.m. at 1718 Brewing.
More revelers and floats showed up for last year’s tomfoolery, including a group of women from Morehead City dressed in rainbow tutus, calling themselves “The Lucky Charmers.” They threw mini packets of Skittles candies to spectators along the route saying, “Taste the rainbow.”
“The Lepra-cants,” a trailer decorated in green, spouting fire, and hauling two couples and five children from Suffolk, Va., won last year’s prize.
Death, who with his wife, Laurie, began the event three years ago, wants the parade to be held on the actual St. Patrick’s Day to promote the start of the island season.
“We are proud to have 1718 Brewing be a part of the event this year,” Death said. “We feel 1718 is a great fit to this year and in the years to come.”
All businesses are encouraged to enter as many floats or groups as they want, freely distribute swag, such as cups, T-shirts, coupons, etc., along the parade route and at both the Ocracoke Station and O’Bar, Death said.
