Baby Right Whale

On Tuesday, a baby right whale beached itself ALIVE! Not only are these the most endangered whales ever (as in only 300 exist in the entire world) but seeing one alive is extremely uncommon. He was about 16' long and weighed right around 2000 pounds... and he was just a few days old! The adults, who can live to 70 years, are around 50' long and can weigh up to 200,000 pounds!! The reason these guys are so few in number is because they were the "right" whale to hunt- slower than others and therefore easier to catch, more fat and therefore more oil than other whales, and because of that, they float when they're dead, so they were easiest to bring to shore after the hunt.

There is nothing that you can do with a live animal of this size so he was euthanized and over 20 people came to town for the necropsy, from all over the place- Woods Hole, Massachusetts; Brown University in Rhode Island; Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission in Gainesville; University of NC- Wilmington professors and students; NOAA Beaufort lab; National Park Service; Virginia Aquarium; Roanoke Island Aquarium; Fort Fisher Aquarium; Maritime Museum; and a few of us from the Wildlife Resources Commission.

The basic findings, without the pathology lab results, were that the baby was malnourished, either through the mom's milk not having enough nutrients or him not being able to digest the milk. He hadn't taken a poop yet as a newborn (which means his fetal waste was making him sick maybe?) Tons of samples were taken and Karen and I were lucky enough to end up taking the head back to our center for education. Of course, we had to haul it to the bone yard today and it was back-breaking heavy! I'll post more pictures when its all cleaned up (months from now!)

Maverick the Black Nosed Reindeer

We're really getting ready for the holidays around here- even Maverick is in the spirit! He can't wait to deliver loads of gifts to PA in the Subaru sleigh this weekend :)

Check out the snazy gingerbread house that we made with friends this week! It really was easy and tasty- thanks to Trader Joe's! I've been munching on it for three days, yum! Then we decorated our little pine with some homemade ornaments (seashells, parts of Mavie's wiggle giggle that he tore off to help out, and handdrawn cardboard decorations) and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which is my all-time fav movie this time of year! We invited our "Otis-watchers" over for a nice dinner with Chef Benjamin and enjoyed the wine from North Georgia. We've been baking cookies galore and enjoying a little Muppet Christmas on tv, too :)

'Tis the Season

Even though we have a very small house, we're getting into the Christmas spirit! It all began when UPS delivered a lovely balsam wreath (thanks Mom!) and it smells just as good as it looks!! We hung it on the inside of the door (since we don't have any neighbors this time of year!) and have been enjoying it all week. Maverick likes to lay on his big bed and look up at it- he actually rubbed on it when we took it out of the box, haha!

Over the past weekend, we had three holiday parties to attend: the 3rd annual Black & White party hosted by Sarah M. in Williamsburg, the Outer Banks Center employee party, and the Sanderling dinner. We had a blast at Sarah's and it was so pretty to see Colonial Williamsburg all fancied up for the holidays! We had great food at both company xmas parties and even ended up with our very own (live!) tree in the white elephant gift exchange. We've added some jingle bells that were given to Maverick at the Outer Banks Center party and plan to do more decorating this week.

And last but not least, Ben made me our very own "Cartridge in a Bare Tree" because he is the most festive person I know. This guy loves Christmas in every way- cookies, decorating, carols, birds. And to add to the list this year... a white Christmas!

Mola Mola

Yesterday afternoon a call came into work that a live Mola Mola, or ocean sunfish, had washed up on the beach. We grabbed some gear and headed out to take a look. They are HUGE fish that usually swim on their side, using their giant dorsal (top) and ventral (bottom) fins to swim. I've actually seen one swimming in the ocean in Florida, and one at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California (it has since been released), but this one was literally right at my feet! Check out this video I found on youtube that shows a mola mola swimming underwater!

It was sad because the fish was still wiggling its mouth, eyes, and gills, but was certainly not going to make it. We took lots of measurements (it was just over 5 feet long!) and then asked some people painting one of the nearby houses if they could give us a hand on moving the fish. It took 6 of us and we estimated that the fish weighed about 420 pounds! This may sound big but they are usually around 2000 pounds (with a record-breaker once weighing in at 5100 if you can imagine that!) Click here for lots more info on wikipedia.

Snickertooth

Mavie had quite a time on his Thanksgiving vacation, but while we were far away from the Outer Banks, he fractured a tooth, hence the nickname Snickertooth. We didn't want the pup to be in pain so we took him to his old veterinarian and found out that he would need to be put under anesthesia so they could tell if the root was exposed through the fracture. If so, the tooth would need to be extracted. We were not in town long enough to schedule the surgery so we gave him extra TLC and made an appointment at the Animal Hospital back at the beach. In the meantime, the silly dog played so rough with the rope that he knocked out the fracture, leaving behind a pearly-white with no root exposed! We took him in today to get it checked out and to our delight, no treatment necessary. I guess he was giving us a nice christmas present by tearing out the broken part and eliminating all those big vet bills during the holiday season! Way to go, boy :)

AeroGarden Missed Us!

Look at this monstrosity! The AeroGarden had a field day while we were away for a week! I think that Ben, myself, and Otis will have plenty of salad this week without even having to visit the grocery store :)

Thanksgiving Treats

After a mighty-fine Thanksgiving dinner in true Southern fashion (stuffing cooked out of the bird and called "dressing" and a fancy dessert called Charlotte Russe, made of cream and lady fingers soaked in bourbon), we all enjoyed a trip to the High Museum of Art in downtown Atlanta, to see the Chinese Terracotta Warriors, which was really really cool. Upwards of 7000 of these statues were created and buried to honor China's first emperor. They were only discovered 35 years ago and are finding more and more curiosities every year.

Currently, I'm blogging from Lake Burton, where Ben's family has a lake house. Its a gorgeous place in the North Georgia mountains with lots of windows overlooking the lake (Ben was birding from the breakfast table!) We've been enjoying the scenery, and since its raining... we went shopping today! And I hit the jackpot- Ben's mom took us to Nora Mill Granary in the little village of Helen, Georgia. Fully-operational since 1876, this granary had the best stuff for a new bread maker like me :) I bought over $50 worth of flours, grains, seeds, grits, and even wheat berries! These are ingredients required by some neat recipes in my bread cookbook that I have not been able to find anywhere. The building itself was just as snazy, because they make all the good stuff right on the premise. The free porridge samples tasted even better when we saw the corn being ground right before our eyes using a water-powered turbine from the river outside. And to my delight there was a winery right next door where I had my fair share of tastings and picked out a few bottles to take home.

How to Make Pretzels

By popular demand, I've listed the recipe for the homemade pretzels below. They really are worth the effort, if you have a bread machine. If not, you should get one. Just to make these delicious delights :)

Dough

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup milk
• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/4 tsp SAF yeast (or 2 3/4 tsp bread machine yeast)

Pretzel bath

• 2 quarts water
• 2 tbsp baking soda

Topping

• 1 egg white beaten with 1 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp sea salt

1. Place dough ingredients in bread pan according to manufacturer's instructions (mine is wet, dry, yeast). Program for dough cycle, press start. Doesn't matter if its 1 1/2 or 2 lb loaf because you're not baking it in the machine.
2. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. When machine beeps (20 min or so), turn the dough out onto the work surface and divide into 12 equal portions. Using the palms of your hands, shape each portion into a 20" rope and form pretzel shape on parchment-papered pan. Let sit uncovered at room temperature for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 400 and bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large, deep pot. Add baking soda to water.
4. After 30 minutes, dip pretzel into boiling water with slotted spatula (they will be very gooey). Boil 45-60 seconds and use spatula to move pretzel to pan, 2" apart (it will be firm this time). You can boil two at a time.
5. Brush pretzels with egg glaze and sprinkle with salt. Bake 16-20 minutes, one pan at a time. They will turn a deep golden brown when done. Enjoy all 12 yourself, they are THAT GOOD :)

Its really snowing!

We thought it was silly to see a few snowflakes earlier this week, but check out our weather this morning! Maverick seems to be enjoying himself- I think he just feels like a million bucks in his Fido Fleece. We're thinking of all of you in the cold north, dealing with inches and even feet of this white stuff, and can't wait to be knee-deep at Christmastime :)

SNOW!

It has been so darned frigid here, ranging between 20-40, plus the wind is downright wretched, and we actually saw SNOW FLAKES yesterday! We feel like these two polar bears when walking over to work! Why Maverick still gets IN the water on his morning walk, we'll never understand, but we've been bundling up like Eskimos. Getting ready for Pennsylvania at Christmas :)

Homemade Pretzels

We put the bread machine to the test with this homemade pretzel recipe (from my new bread cookbook- thanks Mom!) They turned out so yummy and delicious! And we had fun making them into pretzel shapes... as you can see we need some more practice, but they taste good anyhow. Ben had mad skills since he got to make pizza dough at his summer delivery job. Notice his deep focus as he meticulously rolls out 20" of dough for each one!

In other news, Maverick has eaten both breakfast and dinner 9 days in a row now! I guess after 7 months, he's given up on his fasting and decided to live the good life?

We get excited about the little things around here :)

A Visit from Friends

We had a really fun weekend with Dave and Jodi visiting! We did all kinds of touristy things! We saw the Currituck, Bodie Island, and Hatteras lighthouses. We did some beach walking and climbed Jockey's Ridge. We even went birding with Ben at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge!
And of course, we took them around the Whalehead Club, as well as the Wright Brother's Memorial, and even a ride to see the wild horses on the 4WD beach! It was neat to stand at the Virginia/North Carolina border, even though Dave and Jodi had to drive all the way around to get here.

Dave brought his new fancy camera so he was the resident photographer for most of our adventures. The majority of the weekend was rainy, but we got outside every chance we could get. As you can tell from our Hatteras picture (right)- it was WINDY! But thankfully it was unseasonably warm, in the low 70s! See how pretty the sky was just before sunset atop Jockey's Ridge (above). Thanks for coming guys! We had a really good time with you both :)

Saving Another Endangered Species

One more tick mark for Ben and I for saving another sea turtle! The juvenile green was reported in the 4-wheel-drive area and when we picked it up, he was in really good shape, no injuries, just really cold! We took him to the vet where he will be examined, warmed up, and released into the Gulf Stream where he will be much warmer and can reunite with his friends in the Sargasso Sea.

Maverick's Jack-o-lantern

He is very proud of himself for "carving" out this pumpkin. For some reason, whenever he walks past it, he takes a few chunks out with his teeth, and spits them on the porch. Good thing we have a shelled-pet that eats all those little pumpkin pieces.

Sadly, Ben and I still haven't carved our pumpkins. And we even had a day off from work today. Maybe tomorrow. It gets dark so darned early (is dark when we're walking home from work now at 5 o'clock!) Roasting pumkin seeds sounds like an excellent stay-inside-where-its-dark-and-cozy activity for tomorrow eve.

Pelicans AND Hummingbirds for my Birthday, too!

Not only did I get to see the red wolves... but Ben also sent me on a safari to Pelican Island AND... banding hummingbirds!

Pelican Island is a man-made island of dredge spoil from one of the inlets to the ocean. This big pile of sand has turned into the perfect habitat for pelicans, thus the name. North Carolina has approximately 4000 pelicans all together, and this island alone houses over 1800 of them! I think I saw all 1800 of them on my trip- it was incredible!

We went to the island to band monarch butterflies on their migration to Mexico, but we didn't see any, so we enjoyed the pelicans instead. And the pretty view of the Bodie Island Lighthouse.

That was the morning. Then in the afternoon, I met up with Ben and we went on a hummingbird banding expedition- don't we lead adventurous lives?

The trip leader had set up a trap at a private residence in Manteo and put the feeder inside. When we arrived she told us about her work as only one of three hummingbird banders in NC, while we waited for a birdie to fly into the trap. Out of nowhere, and very fast, a ruby throated hummingbird arrived, took a drink, and snap, the little bugger was trapped inside the wire box.

She removed him from the box and put him inside of a toe from some stockings, to keep him stationary, while she did a series of tests. She measured the length of its wings and bill and then took a straw to blow air onto its chest to check its level of fat. This was the cutest thing ever- they do not have feathers on their breastplate, so that they can keep themselves from overheating, so when she blew with the straw, all you could see was a pink chest! She said he had lots of fat on him, which meant that he was going to migrate further south for the winter. We could tell he was a boy hummer because of the red feathers on his chin- look closely, there are only a few. That's because he's a baby- probably born in August! The males get lots of red feathers on their chin, hence their name, but the females just keep the white feathers there.

She attached a band, the size of a sprinkle (it weighed .0017 grams!), and off he went, at the speed of light. What a cool job, to band hummingbirds! After our program, she was on her way toward Raleigh to confirm a rare sighting of a broad-billed hummingbird, which would otherwise reside on the West Coast of the US. Her advice for backyard hummingbird feeders was to make your own sugar water (1 part sugar to 4 parts water ratio) without food coloring. She said anything else can be harmful to these cute little birds.

What a way to end the weekend. Thanks, Ben, for such a thoughtful, and enjoyable, birthday!

Red Wolves for my Birthday!

I've been stretching out my birthday as long as possible (like I do every year!) and this past weekend I got to enjoy the last of it! Ben somehow finagled me a seat on the Exclusive Red Wolf Trip in the Wings Over Water Nature Festival. I was one of only four people that got the rare chance to see the red wolves of NC! Just like in Yellowstone, the reintroduction of wolves to the area has its opposition but the story is really neat: Way back in my Charleston-days, I took a field trip to a red wolf sanctuary where the government was working on a project to increase the population of red wolves. It was so cool to see these beautiful, Maverick-like creatures, and know that someday they were be released into the wild again. As it turns out, they are now located in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, just an hour's drive away from where I live now! And that is the ONLY place where red wolves are wild in the entire world!

Back in the late-1980s, there were only a handful of red wolves left in the wild. They used to roam from Texas, through the mid-west, and up the Atlantic coast. But due to over hunting, only 7 individuals remained. They were all captured, taken to a facility in South Carolina, fed and bred, and now there are 220 in the wild and over 100 in captivity. Biologists with the US Fish and Wildlife Service want that number increased by 100 more in both the wild and captivity. To do this, they take captive-born wolves, mate them, and then deliver those babies, when they are only a few days old, to a wild wolf mother, and sneak them into the den with her other babies, and she will take care of all of them as her own. I asked how they get them in the den with her in there and they said that she is afraid of them and runs out, they put the babies in with the others, take off, and she returns to nurse them all. Really amazing!

Our trip started with a tour of the housing facility where these endangered creatures may visit, if their radio collars need changed or if genetics are needed to determine if they are pure wolf or a coyote hybrid. Here, there were 8 or more captive-raised red wolves, that are either part of the breeding program, or are being housed temporarily until another facility needs them (a zoo, for example). The red wolf is smaller than the grey wolf and very shy. In fact when we went in their pens to feed them, they either hid in their dog houses or paced along the back of the fence. Maybe it is the nursery rhymes that I grew up with that scared me, but I was surprised at this docile behavior when I was putting raw meat in their feeding area- but also delighted that they were not going to eat me!

After the tour there, we went out with the biologist a used radio transmitter to locate a pack that was close by. He heard the pups howling before we got out of the car, so he howled back to see if he could keep it going. Unfortunately we didn't hear them, but he said that they were really near where we were, hiding in the woods. He said that the pups are very curious and they probably had poked their heads out of the vegetation to see what we were but then ran and hid while we waited for them to howl. Check out this video of him howling- it is pretty neat.

Birding with Ben: the Blog

Believe it or not, Ben has begun his very own blog: Birding with Ben, isn't that cute? He's quite a fanatic this time of year (its migration season) so he has lots to share. Check it out at birdingwithben.blogspot.com!

Aerogarden Update

Look at my little plants, isn't it exciting? Looks like they will be ready for harvest in no time!

DAY 15

DAY 18

DAY 20

For Halloween, we dressed up as...

Banquet Servers! Who gets married on Halloween? Seriously! Both Ben and I had to work yesterday, but it really was a beautiful wedding. The food was excellent, as always, and we brought home two bottles of wine, sangria made by the chefs, and some fruit salad for Otis. The wedding coordinator used apples and pears on the tables as decorations so we brought those home too! This was a partying group, so the bar was extra stocked and if you look closely in the picture, you can see a canoe in the background. We tip in up on a rack and load it up with beer and ice and people love it, and its much easier on the bartender. People seem to drink more of it that way, too, and we make more money in our paychecks! It got really REALLY cold last night under that tent, so they brought in heaters, thankfully! We were running around clearing dishes and freezing, I can't imagine what those girls felt like in strapless dresses!

On our day off today, we're enjoying the sunshine and (semi-) warm temperatures. When we took Mav out this morning, the thermometer read 38 (its in the shade), but by the time we got to the beach, we had all taken off our jackets (I had to help Maverick, as he lacks thumbs to open the velcro on his own, haha). The beach was absolutely gorgeous, possible mid-60s, no wind at all, and tons of shells! There were no people around anywhere, either, it was truly a delight! You'd think that the water would be too cold for our maniac dog, but he doesn't seem to mind. He's a nut for seashells no matter what the weather!

Life Saving Station Tour

As yet another fabulous perk of the job, I went down to Hatteras to check out the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum and also the Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station in Rodanthe. The Graveyard Museum was really interesting- they have lots and lots of artifacts found on sunken ships and stories about ghost ships that are said to have crashed into the Outer Banks but no sign of the boat or crew has ever been found. They say the reason there are so many shipwrecks here is because it is very shallow far out to sea and it is also where the currents collide from north and south, creating very dangerous waters. Each little blurb on the map is a different shop that was lost there and never found! You can see how spooky it is to think about all those remains out there!

The tour at the Life Saving Station was incredible! A little background first is that the US Coast Guard was formed from the Life Saving Service in 1915, so any prior shipwrecks and rescues were made by the Life Saving Service. To man the entire coast, there were Life Saving Stations set up every 7 miles along the coast of the Outer Banks. At all times, night and day, there were be a man patrolling the beach, which is pretty amazing. Here's how they did it: a man would leave from each station and walk towards the other. If there were no ships wrecking or lives to be saved, they would meet each other at about the 3.5 mile mark. There they would exchange a special coin, designating that they had met and therefore had covered that 7 mile stretch of beach, and return to their station. If they did encounter a situation, there were a whole series of things involved in the rescue. They would either launch a boat out to the ship, but of course, this usually happened during big waves and treacherous storms, so another method was to shoot a rope with a weight on the end through a cannon so that it would catch on the ship's mast and a "life saver" would be able to crawl out to the boat, secure the line, and attach a pulley system to the mast so that the people could be brought to shore. They used two different mechanisms for this- one was a life car (above), which looks like something that could be used to go over Niagara Falls, and the other was a breeches buoy (left), which is a life-saver shaped float with a pair of pants sewn inside.

Being able to see the original equipment was really neat. There are only a few Life Saving Stations left in the US (there were over 400 at one time!) as many of them have either washed away in storms, burnt down, or been purchased by private owners. In fact, the restaurant at the Sanderling was originally a Life Saving Station. I would recommend visiting one if you ever have the chance!

Subs and Seals

Sarah and I had a really fun time at the Mid-Atlantic Marine Educators Association Conference in Virginia Beach! I had never been there before so it was neat to see a new city. I met so many people that are doing the same kinds of things that I am and actually live in this region (North Carolina to Delaware) which will be really helpful! As you can see, we got a little silly at the live auction, where the Baltimore Aquarium donated a prop that they used as an exhibit and a friend of ours bought it to use with her husband and cats for their Christmas cards this year. That is Sarah on the left, then Chris, the silly auctioneer, a giant fish that someone won in the auction, and then me, feeding a beer to the fish. Like I said, a very good time!

I also got an opportunity to go behind the scenes at the Virginia Aquarium and talk with the mammal trainers about the seals on display! It was really cool and we even got to pet them! They were so smart and reminded me of my doggie at home- the seals wear their emotions on their face, just like Maverick! We even went into their exhibit and participated in a feeding exercise with them! I learned a ton of info about the Harbor Seals, which is good, because I hear it is almost seal time here at the beach. Apparently, several seals that lose their way from their icy waters end up on our beaches here and we have to go out and rescue them! As much as I don't want the pups to wash up here... I'm very excited to see one and make sure it stays safe. More to come on that subject!

Its Always Sunny...

We've had the Aero Garden going for a little while now and we're seeing great progress in the baby plants! However, the UV light that makes the little salad greens grow is incredibly bright... and is on for incredibly long every day. It automatically goes off around the time we go to bed but then comes on, bright and early, quite literally, at 4:30 am! For the past week, poor Ben has been coming up with inventive ways to cover up the "sun" as we call it and we finally moved it into the other room and closed the door!

All that light makes the house feel warmer, which was one reason we put it in the other room at first. With the windows open, the house was a comfy 76 or so. That was a few days ago... its now so cold and windy outside, that the house warming gift (haha) feels good! With the windows closed and no A/C or heat, we woke up to a temperature of 65 inside! Poor little Otis, he was all curled up in his shell under his heat lamp and Maverick didn't want to get out of bed (our bed!) this morning!

It should only be another week or 10 days before we'll be able to harvest the salad! This machine is the easiest thing ever- you just add water to the fill line, and the lights on the front tell you everything you need to do. If it needs water, a button lights up, when its ready to pick, another button lights up.

While its cold and windy outside, we'll be making bread and harvesting salad greens inside. So cozy :)

Lost Baby Sea Turtle

We were on our way back from the mountains when we got a call that there was a baby sea turtle that had been disoriented and beached itself near our house. Our staff picked it up and turtle-sat all afternoon at the office. They asked if we could return the little squirt to the ocean after nightfall since we live so close to the water!

I think that all baby animals are always so cute, but this little guy, ahh, it was almost breathtaking! It was probably only a day or two old and so tiny! This little loggerhead needed to get to the ocean since its survival rate is about 1 in 1000. That means for every one-thousand eggs that hatch on the beach, only one will make it back to that same beach to lay eggs, about 50 years from now. Maybe this little guy is the one?

We patiently waited until it was dark enough and then took the little guy to the water's edge. When we put him down in the sand, he knew just what to do. And in a few moments, he was gone into the surf. There were some people walking down the beach that were so excited to be part of our release. Be sure to watch the (very short) video and see for yourself :)

Trip to the Mountains!

Another great perk of the job is the annual Educator Retreat, which this year happened to be hosted by the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, in Brevard, NC, just outside of Asheville. We traveled 8 hours to get there but it was so beautiful that it was definitely worth it!

First we visited Vanessa, who took care of Maverick while we were at meetings. It was neat to be in South Carolina again and to see where she is going to school. And Mavie had a playmate all week long- he demonstrated his approval by eating every single meal!

Then we traveled though Asheville and up into the mountains, quite literally, we camped at 4000 feet! Our campground was along the Blue Ridge Parkway and was amazing. The leaves were all changing in the higher elevations and everything was crisp (and cold- I wore a hat for the first few days!) We took a workshop on birds in a little place called Elk Knob State Park and did some sightseeing outside of Boone. A few stops for eating, shopping, and even a tour of a cavern led us to the bed & breakfast where we met up with all of the other educators across the state.

We spent a day in the field with the biologists (I went out with the salamander and turtle biologist, while Ben did electrofishing with the trout biologist) and another day at the Center, teaching school groups with their staff. I had a bunch of pre-k kids and we taught them about vermicomposting, or composting with worms. I'm working on an adult workshop for the winter on that very topic so it was fun to talk to the lil' tikes about worms!

The Center is located in the Pisgah National Forest and actually has a trout hatchery on site. It was very informative for those of us from the coast! They raise brown, brook, and rainbow trout here to stock in the region. I asked how long the trout live and they said they keep them in the raceway tanks until they are 10" long (2 years +) and expect them to survive about 2 weeks in the streams before they are caught by fisherman! Seems like a lot of work, but fly fishing is a serious sport in these parts.

Overall we had a really great time and actually learned a whole lot. Now its back to the grind for a little while!