THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607040323
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JEFF HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: PEA ISLAND LENGTH: 119 lines
MICHAEL, PATRICIA and David Bronskill stopped suddenly along the trail and simultaneously raised binoculars to their eyes.
There was something new out there on the pond - something they had not seen before. An ibis. A white ibis.
``We are never going to see an ibis in Toronto,'' declared Patricia.
``Never,'' added David, the Bronskill's grown son.
The ibis is one of more than 200 species of shorebirds found at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, located just south of the Oregon Inlet bridge in Dare County.
``We come here each year from Toronto for windsurfing and birding at Pea Island,'' said Patricia. The Bronskills have increased their list of bird species sighted by 40 in just three years of coming to the Hatteras Island wilderness refuge, which is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
``Pea Island is noted worldwide as a birding hot spot,'' said Don Perry, a volunteer guide and bird expert for the refuge. ``I have people who come from Britain, Japan, Germany, all over.''
The refuge contains nearly 6,000 acres of barrier island habitat and 25,700 acres of tidal creeks and marshland, perfect for birds who make their living on the water.
The area has been known as Pea Island for at least 200 years. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set it aside in 1938 as a wintering ground for snow geese. The refuge's reputation for birds draws nearly two million visitors a year.
Perry guides free nature tours Tuesdays through Fridays along the trails that follow the edges of the ponds and marshes.
Only the hardiest of vegetation can exist in this salt marsh environment. The tops of the small live oaks curve to the southwest from years of acquiescing to the strong northeasterly winds. Honeysuckle, wild blackberry and fox grape thicken the underbrush. Every plant helps the birds in some way.
As volunteer Bertha Burris put it: ``Birds. That's what we're all here for. Birds.''
Perry and Burris are among several volunteer members of the Coastal Wildlife Refuge Society. Formed 10 years ago, the group raised half the money needed to build a visitors center for Pea Island and have already paid for a $30,000 addition to the structure. Burris and others man the visitor center each summer.
The Society has funded the construction of observation decks along the trails and a two-story observation tower. From the tower, erected near the edge of the marsh, sightseers can view the ocean to the east and Pamlico Sound to the west.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently honored Perry as its national volunteer of the year, said Bonnie Strawser, a wildlife interpretive specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Perry, a soft-spoken unassuming man, seemed more interested in sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of birds than in acknowledging his award.
``Hear that?'' Perry asked of what sounded like the normal cawing of a crow. ``That's a fish crow. That voice is unmistakable.''
Fish crows and the common crow look alike, Perry pointed out. But their call is different. As he spoke about crows, he suddenly plopped down the tripod with a 22-power scope he always carries on his shoulders.
``We've got another bird we haven't seen here. A greater yellow legs,'' he said.
The shore bird waded in shallow water, probing its long beak into the pond, searching for food. As it walked, the bird withdrew each long yellow leg from the water as if to show off the appendage for which it is named.
Perry already had shared enough bird intelligence to fill a Peterson's Field Guide. And he hadn't even traveled a third of the trail. Yet his concentration didn't prevent him from interacting with visitors.
``Feed the bugs for us?'' said Perry dryly to a man and his wife on their way out of the insect-infested underbrush.
``They got a pretty good feeding,'' responded the visitor.
While the couple went on their way, Perry elaborated about the pests of Pea Island.
``There has never been a poisonous snake documented on the Pea Island Refuge,'' he said. ``We have our share of deer ticks, mosquitos, yellow flies and poison ivy, though.'' A couple of hungry yellow flies landed on his brown ball cap as he spoke.
Perry, retired from Bell South Corporation, has always loved birds. He used to hold funeral services for dead birds he found by the road. ``Even made them a headstone sometimes,'' he said.
Strawser said Perry is the best birder around. He even trains some of the biologists who come to Pea Island. It takes a while to comprehend all the little differences in the egrets, herons, sandpipers and dowitchers.
For example, good birders can identify a spotted sandpiper at a distance by the way it flies.
``See the way he holds his wings below the horizontal?'' questions Perry. Sure enough, when the bird takes flight, its wings never quite come to a level plane.
``There is so much to learn about birds,'' said the guide. ``The migration, the nesting, the food. You never learn it all.''
A stop at the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, however, is a good place to start. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by DREW C. WILSON
A line of pelicans soars over the Pea Island National Wildlife
Refuge on Hatteras Island. There are free nature tours Tuesdays
through Fridays along the refuge's trails.
Like a giant amoeba, a flock of snow geese fly over the Pea Island
Wildlife Refuge. The refuge contains nearly 6,000 acres of
barrier island habitat and 25,700 acres of tidal creeks and
marshland. It's a perfect home for birds who make their living on
the water. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set it aside in 1938 as a
wintering ground for snow geese.
Like a giant amoeba, a flock of snow geese fly over the Pea Island
Wildlife Refuge. The refuge contains nearly 6,000 acres of
barrier island habitat and 25,700 acres of tidal creeks and
marshland. It's a perfect home for birds who make their living on
the water. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set it aside in 1938 as a
wintering ground for snow geese.
Photo by JEFF HAMPTON
Pea Island draws more than birds - it draws flocks of bird lovers
from around the world. As volunteer Bertha Burris put it: ``Birds.
That's what we're all here for. Birds.'' by CNB