Ocracoke Wildlife Center

08/29/2023

Yay!

08/27/2023

Come watch science in action! A public sea turtle nest excavation will be taking place tomorrow:

🐢 Monday, August 28, at 10:00am on Ocracoke Island (park in the Ocracoke Pony Pen Beach Access parking lot). Nest location: 0.04 miles north of the Pony Pen Beach Access. Please allow for extra time to walk to the nest, as we will start promptly at 10:00am. Bring water and sunscreen.

Watch Park biologists dig up a recently hatched nest and inventory what’s inside. They will count empty eggshells, collect unhatched eggs, and occasionally find live and/or dead hatchlings during these excavations. While the biologists perform their examination of the nest, a park ranger will present a program on sea turtles and share what the biologists have found.

For more information and to learn about additional upcoming public nest excavations, call the sea turtle nest excavation hotline at 252-475-9629.

https://www.nps.gov/caha/learn/nature/seaturtles.htm

08/17/2023

Pop quiz, everyone! What’s this a picture of?

That’s right! A fish ear bone!

Huh? You thought they were tree rings?

Who knew trees and fish could have something like this in common!

Just like looking at a cross-section of a tree, you can learn about the age and history of a fish from the rings of a fish’s ear bone, called an otolith. Large, dark rings correspond to years, but a closer look can sometimes reveal the fish’s history to the day, like in this photo of a 79-day old salmon’s otolith.

And like a tree’s rings can show you wet years and dry years, these ear bones reveal a fish’s life history. By comparing the trace metals and other elements found in a ring to the metals and elements in the lakes and streams nearby, it’s possible to discover where a fish was born and where it swam during its life. The rings can even reveal when anadromous fish, like salmon, first made it to the ocean.

All bony-headed fish have otoliths, but they are most often studied in migrating species.

Next time you want to impress your friends with obscure fish knowledge, you know what to do.

A cross section of a juvenile chinook salmon ear bone reveals its 79-day history. Milestones in its development can be found by studying the rings. Credit: USGS (modified)

08/17/2023

❤️

06/23/2023

How incredibly special and exciting! 💚

02/03/2023

When there are 107 sea turtles queued up for the ocean, it's time to call a taxi! Thank you U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Richard Snyder at Fort Macon for releasing the loggerheads, greens, and Kemp's ridleys, rehabilitated at all 3 NC Aquariums and The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center

12/22/2022

Cold is coming and there are a lot of juvenile sea turtles still in the sound…..

It is critical to find these turtles and get them to the STAR center in Manteo for rehabilitation. Every year volunteers walk the beaches and sound side looking for these turtles during cold northerly blows.

Thursday or Friday the temperature is going to plummet. As these turtles wash in and land on shore unable to move, they cool off even faster because the air temperature will be colder than the water. If they stay on shore over night with temperatures in the 30s or lower, it is usually too late.

There is a staging site in Buxton where trained and permitted volunteers gather the turtles for transport to the aquarium in Manteo. If you find a turtle this winter, please call ether the NEST stranding line at 252-441-8622, or Hatteras Island Rehab at 252-475-4217, or the NPS hotline at 252-216-6892. If you can text a photo with your location setting on, that is great! We will do our best to come find the turtle and get it to rehab.

12/17/2022

Many of you are aware of the avian flu outbreak that has been plaguing our wildlife both locally and nationally. Please don't handle wildlife and follow the CDC'a suggested precautions if you or your pets have been exposed to infected wildlife.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/spotlights/2022-2023/nearing-record-number-avian-influenza.htm

09/21/2022

Want to watch a sea turtle nest excavation? Here's your chance!

Tomorrow!

Tune in to our page at 6 p.m. (ET) on September 22 to watch biological science technicians from Cape Hatteras National Seashore excavate a sea turtle nest on Ocracoke Island! 🐢

They will count empty eggshells, collect unhatched eggs, and occasionally find live and/or deceased hatchlings during these excavations. While the biological technicians perform their examination of the nest, a park ranger will present a program on sea turtles and share what the biologists have found.



📸 Cape Hatteras National Seashore

[Image description: A closeup view of eggs in a sea turtle nest. Eight eggs are partially visible in the sand.]

09/14/2022

What a fantastic opportunity to see and learn about sea turtle nests!

A public sea turtle nest excavation will take place tomorrow on Ocracoke Island!

🐢 Wednesday, September 14th, promptly at 10:00am (park in the lot adjacent to the NPS Campground and next to Ramp 68). Nest location: 0.05 miles north of Ramp 68.

Watch Park biologists dig up a recently hatched nest and inventory what’s inside. They will count empty eggshells, collect unhatched eggs, and occasionally find live and/or dead hatchlings during these excavations. While the biologists perform their examination of the nest, a park ranger will present a program on sea turtles and share what the biologists have found.

For more information and to learn about additional upcoming public nest excavations, call our sea turtle nest excavation hotline at 252-475-9629.

Alt Text: Three Park Rangers counting egg shells on a sandy beach.

09/10/2022

Here's a friendly reminder to remove bait from your hooks before laying your rods down. Just like fish, many animals don't see the hook and go right for the easy meal. This time it was a young laughing gull, but we've seen pelicans, otters, and even cats with hooks that had to be painfully removed.

Help keep our wildlife safe (and keep your rods and tackle in good shape) by removing bait and storing tackle before you walk away.

07/06/2022

We've had a few calls about these over the past few weeks. It's amazing to see them this time of year!

Wildlife Wednesday -- When we talk about sea birds at the beach, we mainly are speaking about those of the "sea gull" variety. But over the last few weeks we've been seeing some different birds showing up in unusual (for them) places along the coast. These birds are mainly pelagic (open ocean) and are almost never seen along our coast. So far we've had small groups of Audubon Shearwaters, solitary Masked Bo***es, and at least one Magnificent Frigatebird. These birds ride the ocean air currents out at sea and sometimes they end up being blown closer to the coast. Watch for them, especially when we have had strong storm winds blowing from the ocean. If you do see them, especially if they are resting on the beach, keep your distance and let them rest. They are only here long enough to rest and recover their strength so they can return to their normal air space out on the ocean.

Image description: a group of Audubon Shearwaters float on the water near the beach after being blown ashore in late June 2022. Some would recover and return to the ocean, some would not.

Image credit: NPS photo