January 6 - the beginning of a Polar Vortex

Yup!!  That's what the weather man is forecasting for this week.  A polar vortex all across the country.  A cold snap is coming in.  Monday was forecasting rain, but not till noon so we decided to try to get a round of golf in with Lawrence and Teresa.  The weather forecast was also calling for "high winds".  We golfed at Oyster Bay which is by Sunset Beach in North Carolina.  This is a beautiful course which reminds me of Pawley's Plantation.  There is a lot of water and plenty of marsh all around the course.  We saw an eagle and a couple of hawks during our round making it fun for the nature lovers that we are.  I was able to capture a shot of one of the hawks which was sitting on a stump near the greens.  It was a red trail hawk and a real beauty to see.  There were quite a few birds around the course enjoying the water.

In the evening we enjoyed an interesting set of clouds. It made me think of my Mom. We always talked about clouds. It was something we both enjoyed watching and it often came up when we were together. It's a nice reminder of her for me. 

We went back to see the eagles a couple of times during the week.  With the weather being cold there wasn't any more golf planned.  We had a little rain as well but for the most part things were dry.  I spent time walking along the beach enjoying the fresh air, collecting a few shells and sharks teeth and being thankful that we could spend our winter here.

If you look closely at the above picture you can see the eaglet (left side) watching as the adult is positioning twigs to build up the nest.  It's interesting to see the eagles gathers sticks and doing their building.

The quality  of some of the above pictures is a little grainy.  The distance is very far and it was an overcast day when I was shooting these.  I do like though that we were able to see how they persevere to get the branches in.

While we were watching the eagles Teresa spotted a Clapper Rail.  This is a marsh loving bird and is often hard to see let alone capture a picture of.  We were quite excited to see it.  This a the first time we have ever seen one. We also enjoyed watching a tri-colored heron fishing.  

Once while we were out, we noticed the moon was so large during the middle of the afternoon. ... It would have been nice if a bird had flown by however its still fun to see the craters. 

The sunrises have been beautiful and the colours are so strong.  I love how this one reflected off our balcony doors.

I have been enjoying my daily walks along the beach.  I wonder if the colder weather is affecting the sealife as I have seen many dead crabs and other creatures on the beach.

We have seen a few dolphins as well.  It looks like they may have some young ones with them.

We finished off the week with another beautiful moon.  It's fun looking over the wide expanse of the ocean and amazing how much you can see and enjoy.

December 30 , 2024 A new week has begun

The week started off with a beautiful day.  Temperatures were near 18c making it a perfect day for a round  of golf and a visit to Sunset Beach to see our favorite eagle pair.  The golfing was fun although the course was pretty wet from the previous days rain.  That was ok though as the game was really intended to shake off the cobwebs and get ourselves ready for the next couple of months.  We met our friend Rick while checking out the eagles.  He had seen our truck on the side of the road and came by for a nice chat.  He showed us some of his photos that he had taken during the summer and fall season.  He had some great shots!! It looks like one egg has hatched and the eaglet  head has been seen above the nest already in search of food.  It's going to be fun watching it grow.

The morning sunrise on the last day of the year was quite interesting.  It didn't last long but I was able to capture the beautiful rays in the sky.

We enjoyed a quiet day on Tuesday. I took a nice long walk along the beach and wore shorts because the weather was so nice.  They are working on new water runoff system  which is being installed into the ocean. The work is noisy and you can hear it all up the beach. I don't think it will be a quiet winter here. Thankfully the noise is on and off and not steady all day. 

Lawrence and Teresa arrive late in the afternoon on New Years eve.  We spent the evening together and watched the fireworks on the beach.  We had a front row seat to some of the displays as we watched from the balcony.

We went to Huntington for a few hours on the Thursday.  Since the weather had turned colder there wasn't as many birds although it was still nice to be there.  

At the end of the week we played a round of golf at Crow Creek all together.  It turned out to be a beautiful day and we had fun.  Afterwards we went to view the eagles for again.  We didn't stay long as it was pretty windy making it cold and difficult to hold our cameras steady.  I was able to get a few shots but most were blurry. 

 

Sunday afternoon after church it was really sunny which made it nice to walk along the beach.  I met up with Lawrence and Teresa while I was out and we walked together to check out the new water pipe being installed.  Its quite a large structure that they have built just to bring the pipe into the ocean.  

All in all it was a fun week.