Summer is Fading
The days are shorter and the heat is lifting. Fall is coming..
The shadows are growing longer while the sunrise comes later and the sun sets earlier. The colorful mating colors of the wading birds have faded as have the brilliant greens of the marsh. It’s all fading, like the heat of summer, giving way to shorter days and cooler nights and the colors of Fall. But soon, after a season of rest, the birds will return and the flowers will bloom.
Schedule your ecotour to explore this environmental wonderland.
Creek Names
Sunrise on a nameless creek off of the North Landing River.
Most creeks have names - it’s what we do. Some names may not appear on modern maps, but can often be found on older, historical maps and even on deeds from the past. And, of course, locals have their own names - some passed down for generations. The North Landing River has many smaller and larger creeks that drain the marshes, swamps and pocosins that fringe the river. Some are well known, like West Neck and Blackwater Creeks. Others are not, such as Drummonds Creek and Chelydra Stream. And then there are those that remain nameless and are referred to by location. One might say the “first creek north of Moore’s blind” and subsequently be called Moore’s Creek. Some have two names. Alton’s Creek is referred to as Albright’s Creek by many. I use Alton’s, it’s older. I often wonder who Alton was and how it became Albright.
One of the greatest pleasures of living in the South - for me - is experiencing sunrise on a blackwater creek. Deep in the marsh, in a world older than ours, hidden by the tall grasses amongst the cypress knees, I encounter the first light with wild things and wilderness.
Schedule your ecotour to explore this environmental wonderland.
Monkey Island
Cattle Egret in mating plumage on Monkey Island, Currituck Sound.
Cattle Egret in mating plumage.
Native Americans once used it as a hunting camp. After the sound turned from salt to brackish, it was bought and a duck hunting club was established in the latter part of the 1800s. Wealthy businessmen once traveled great distances to stay at the hunt club and to hunt the waterfowl that inhabit the marshes and shallow sounds in winter and writers and artists visited as well. The Nature Conservancy owned it at one time, as did the county. Today, Monkey Island is part of Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge and is an active wading bird rookery. The Audubon Society has designated Monkey Island as an Important Bird Area.
Monkey Island is a treat to see, especially in the late spring and early summer when there are hundreds of wading birds nesting and displaying their magnificent breeding plumage.
Schedule your ecotour to explore this environmental wonderland.
Frogs are Bioindicators
Frogs are an idicator of the health of a habitat.
When I was a young boy - about 9 or 10 - my brother and I would walk along the creek near our home and cut down saplings. We would strip any branches and leaves off of them, sharpen one end with a dull knife and stick it firmly into the mud on the bank. On the other end of the newly created fishing pole we would tie a length of whatever pound test fishing line we could find and a hook. We were fishing for catfish and since we did not have money to buy hot dogs, frogs were what we had access to for bait. Before deforesting the creek bank, we went frog hunting. We preferred frogs, but toads were not discarded since there was no way on earth my mother was ever going to donate any of the frozen packs of Oscar Meyers in the freezer to our worthy cause. Once we had a coffee can full of frogs, we would use a scrap piece of lumber as a cutting board and get to work makin’ bait.
We used the same knife we cut the trees down with to filet the frogs, so it was more sawing than it was cutting. The frog parts were impaled on the hooks and tossed out into the water. We saved the frog eyes - they were good for catching bream with the cane poles that lay dumbfoundingly tangled in a corner of the garage. This is what boys do - they figure things out. We also figured out that if you do not space the poles far enough apart from each other along the creek bank, that when you went to check your lines the next day the frog-filet eatin’ catfish would tangle your lines so spectacularly that you would have to go find more line and restring your poles. We also discovered that some of those catfish must have been monsters because they would pull the poles right out of the mud and drag them down the creek. Thankfully, there was no shortage of saplings.
Today, I see frogs in the marsh along the North Landing River as bioindicators, not bait. The river is healthy and evidenced by the thousands upon thousands of frogs that inhabit the wetlands that surround the North Landing . Every once in a while though, I think about cutting down a sapling…
Schedule your ecotour to explore this environmental wonderland.
The Greens of the Green Sea
The Greens of the North Landing River wetlands.
I drifted with the morning mist along the creek, surrounded by the dense vegetation - trees and shrubs and grasses in every shade of green. The river is restless, twisting and turning, seeping from the swamps - always flowing. The water in these creeks - far from the main stem of the North Landing River - is dark, the color of the coffee I’m sipping. The wetlands that envelop the river are wild, rare, and undisturbed. Out here, in the early morning, you are immersed in the sounds of the river. Fish splash in the distance. Birds sing their morning song as the marsh grasses rustle with the slightest breeze, and strange wails rise from hidden places in the swamps. This environmental wonderland is home to more rare plants and animals than anywhere in Virginia east of the Blue Ridge, but it may not be so forever. The years will not be kind to the river. People build and developers develop, destroying what brings them here.
Schedule your ecotour to explore this environmental wonderland.
Not Everything is Measurable..
Sunrise on the North Landing River
We live in a world where we are told that everything is measurable. Quantifiable. Counted and graphed. Certainly, I might rate how I feel while watching the sun rise on a creek off of the North Landing River on a cool, spring morning while the birds sing to a chorus of frogs in the shadows of the cypress, but that number will never capture the peacefulness and rapture of the moment. You can’t measure the joy and wonder of rivers and new days. It’s intangible. Some sights and moments are beyond measure: exhilarating and beautiful, emotional and graceful. Sunrises need to be experienced. Mornings like this give you the sense that you have entered into another world - far from the sidewalk.
Schedule your ecotour to explore this environmental wonderland.
Bird Watching in Virginia Beach
Great Egret feeding chicks on Monkey Island
Bird watching - or birding - is the fastest growing hobby in the United States with over one third of Americans participating at some level. Here in Virginia Beach and northeastern North Carolina, birdwatchers have the opportunity to see hundreds of species of birds depending on the time of year. Birds from the arctic and the tropics pass through our area because we are situated along the Atlantic Flyway. The variety of birds to be seen is astounding. There are shorebirds on our strands and wading birds in the wetlands. Raptors soar through the air during the day as well as the night sky and our swamps and forests echo with birdsong. A most impressive sight is the island rookery in Currituck Sound where hundreds of pairs of wading birds raise their young each year.
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Schedule your ecotour to explore this environmental wonderland.
Coffee Table Book now Available!
The very first coffee table book about the North Landing River is now available! The North Landing River is a Virginia Scenic River and an absolutely wild and beautiful river in southern Virginia Beach. With it’s source in the swamps and pocosins, it is a blackwater river that flows to the Albemarle. I hope you pick up a copy and fall in love with this amazing river!
The very first coffee table book dedicated to the North Landing River is now available! Discover the beautiful North Landing and learn about this unique waterbody. To see it up close, schedule an Ecotour with me!
The book can be purchased at Blurb. Click the image below to preview the book!
Spring 2020
Spring 2020 - Ready to help you discover the Green Sea!
Moore To See Photo Expeditions is geared up and ready for business!! Our emphasis is on providing private eco- and photo- boat tours to explore the unique natural communities and abundant wildlife of the waters of southern Virginia Beach while placing the waters in historical and ecological context.
I can schedule tours of "The Green Sea" seven days a week! This time of year I am offering afternoon tours Monday - Friday. On weekends and holidays I can tour both mornings and afternoons.
Guests can choose from tours of the following Green Sea waters:
Back Bay/Knott's Island Bay
North Landing River & tributaries
Monkey Island Rookery (Currituck Sound)
Tour start times vary depending on interest, demand, time of year, and weather. I will work with you to determine start times. If you want to get out and be on the water to catch the sun rise or sunset, I can make that happen! I am very flexible - it’s your tour!
If you would like to discuss options you may email me or call 757.401-2583
US Coast Guard certified captain
Virginia Certified EcoTour Guide
Virginia Green Certified
Fully insured.
