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Adventuring the Outerbanks/ Spring, 2018

Outerbanks is an adventurous place, a place full of diverse landscapes and wildlife, surprises and beauty! There is so much to see and do, it truly is a photographer’s paradise! Every time we go, my primary interest is photographing the wild horses on the beach and black bears at the Alligator River NWR, but there are many other sights to photograph as well such as lighthouses, fishing piers, Cape Hatteras National Seashore with protected nesting areas for the piping plover, oyster catcher, and royal terns,  Ocracoke Island, Portsmouth Ghosttown, & Jockey’s Ridge, the largest sand dune in Southeastern US. All of these places offer rich opportunities for adventures and photography too. But it’s the wild horses and bears that draw me to the Outerbanks every year.

Searching for the wild horses in the dunes and on the beach is always an exciting adventure. One that never disappoints. Every trip I made on the beach produced sightings. We had rented a 4 wheel drive vehicle so that I could drive the 6-8 miles on the beach to increase my chances of finding them. This year driving on the beach was a nerve wracking adventure. The beach was torn up pretty badly with deep ruts and numerous consecutive dips. There was one area in particular that was very narrow with numerous ruts and a bit of a drop off.  Each time I drove on the beach I would see at least 1 car stuck. But the thrill of the hunt for horses emboldened me, and I was determined not to let my lack of confidence stop me from trying! So I tried to relax behind the wheel as I scanned the dunes, the beach, and the ocean for the Island’s beautiful wild sea horses.

About a 35 minute drive from Kitty Hawk is Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. It is here that you will find the largest population of black bears in North Carolina. When we first started coming to the Outerbanks I would see around 40 bears within a week.  It seems though every year that number has become less and less. This year throughout the week I saw only a dozen bears. That is excluding however, the 4 adorable little cubs that looked to be only a few months old.

Time spent looking for the bears involves driving miles and miles of gravel roads that wind around the farmers’ fields and through the woods. It also means stopping and further investigating every black dot that could be a bear in the fields. Many times they are lieing down grazing in the tall grass and you’ll only see a little bit of black sticking up through the tall grasses. If you decide it’s a bear, then it’s often worth the wait for him to move closer within viewing range. Sometimes though, he’ll stay put or worse, move further out of range.

I enjoyed watching this large male bathe himself. It was dusk and he was in the woods so it was challenging to get an adequate shot at best. This shot is terribly pixilated, shot at 8000 ISO.

A few years ago I was reminded by one of the locals to look in trees for bears too! I had totally forgotten bears climb trees and had been only looking in the fields. While I did indeed begin scanning the trees for bears, it wasn’t until this trip that I actually found not just a bear in a tree but 4 cubs! I was amazed at how fast they could zip up and down that tree. The runt of the litter though was a little more apprehensive and i watched nervously for him as he seemed to come close to falling several times.

The cubs wrestled with each other, ate leaves, napped, and sharpened their claws. Altogether I spent an hour and a half watching them and photographing them. All during this time their mother was casually grazing in the field, seemingly unconcerned about them or us for that matter.  I stayed with them until they all bedded down for the night. A couple of the babies snuggled up in the tall grass at the base of the tree, the other 2 still in the tree, and the mamma bear standing guard at the base of the tree. It was an experience I”ll never forget!

The fourth bear cub was behind the tree. I couldnt get a shot with all 4.

So long Outerbanks..until we meet again..

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