North Carolina part 2

Monday June 8, 2015    we really like the outer banks of NC.  in fact it could be possible to spend a month or so here...  lots of hiking and water activities.   But it was time to move on...  We drove about  150 miles in 9 hours, of course stopping for lunch, hiking and birding.  We did stop at Pea Island NWR as it was not windy and did get one new bird!  the bugs were out, did not like that..

one of our New birds was a Prothonotary Warbler!

oh yeah its warm out.. no jackets required.

Tuesday June 9: todays drive was about 125 miles in 8 hours.   lots of stops
yes we seen a few snakes..

wild roses

great hiking

no Red Wolf sightings

we walked on a few of these trails..  not long but nice

this was a real nice city trail

Wednesday June 10:  A big day for us our 500th bird was a Mississippi Kite!  So exciting...  new birds are getting harder and harder to spot!   We went to two different places today.  Howell Woods Education Center is where we hit 500.  A beautiful place to hike around.  We stopped at Raven Rock State Park but did not add to our list..  it is a beautiful park with nice trails although it was 92 and humid.  we really enjoyed our day visiting the two parks.

Thursday June 11:  our final birding day in North Carolina.  sad but it is time to go home.   We went to Weymouth Woods Sandhill Nature Preserve in Southern Pines.  I did not see any new birds but did see 2 new "year" birds  for Eric they were new life birds.  Again it was a great place to walk around.. we did see lots of wildlife

snakes..

crazy looking squirrels (fox squirrels)

after a BBQ lunch.. pool time.. 95, sunny and humid....

we moved to our hotel by the airport as we are leaving tomorrow early in the am.

I ended up with 23 new birds,  Eric got 25...  (I had two that he did not have yet).  So all in all a very successful bird vacation.   we are not much on repeating but North Carolina and the Outer Banks might be repeated someday.

After 10 days and 5 hotels I really appreciate our RV.  We don't really drive any farther in the car than with the RV behind us and the fact we are in our own bed each night, ability to eat at home every meal and not have to lug luggage are added pluses..  Staying in one hotel for the entire trip would have been better but then we would not have seen all the great places..  such a dilemma!