My wife was out of town for Labor Day weekend, so I made plans of my own. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but my getaway consisted of a solo sojourn to the coast—kayaking, camping, birding, and fishing around East Shackleford Banks. This is one of my favorite places to go, and my absolute favorite location in coastal NC. Shack is always teeming with wildlife, and this trip was no exception.
Friday
I got a later start than usual for a trip like this. A couple things held me back: first, work. I was scheduled to be the very last speaker of the day at a work conference on Friday. Fortunately, it ended around noon, whereupon I left Raleigh with my sights set on Carteret County. Second, car trouble. While stopped at a gas station in Kinston, my car decided it didn’t want to start, ever again. After a frustrating, sweaty 2-hour wait for AAA (who never came), I managed to find a local jump/tow service, who promptly got me to the nearby dealership, who squeezed me in for a last-minute battery replacement. I was back on the road a bit after 5 PM, arriving at the east end of Harkers Island around sunset.
The sunset motor kayak ride across Core Sound was uneventful. The 3.5-mile trip started light enough, but it ended in the dark. I eventually relied on real-time satellite maps to navigate the east end of Shackleford Banks. Fortunately, it was high tide; I wouldn’t have been able to maneuver the maze of sand flats and oyster beds at low tide in the dark (it’s challenging enough during the day).
As I passed through the tidal basin near the campsite, baitfish came alive, with hundreds jumping and darting every time I shined a light over the water. I’ve never observed this behavior before.
It was a bit challenging to find a good campsite amid the dunes in the dark, but I managed. Sleeping was also a bit of a challenge; I was sticky from sweat, the night was warm (around 80 F and humid), and there were a lot of bugs. I came away from the trip with about 300 no-see-um bites and 3 ticks. Coastal camping in the summer is not for the faint of heart.
Saturday
Waking up with the sunrise, I enjoyed hearing and seeing a variety of birds fly over my campsite. Highlights included a Black-crowned Night-Heron, a flock of Western Cattle Egrets, a dozen or two Eastern Kingbirds that were visibly migrating south, a Bobolink, and the first American Redstart that anyone has reported on the island.
I hit the water around 8:30 AM, right as the tide began to fall in earnest. It was a beautiful morning, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps around 80F. The ever-changing scenery of East Shackleford Banks during a falling tide is always a spectacle.
As I floated down the tidal creek, I was treated to a group of 4 Black-necked Stilts associating with 10 Black Terns and 100 Black Skimmers, all loafing on some high ground before the tide dropped. As the tide fell, the shorebirds were quick to disperse to their feeding grounds among the emerging sandflats, mudflats, and grassflats. I saw 17 species of shorebirds, but I photographed only one. This was a change from my normal modus operandi; this is normally my favorite place to photograph shorebirds.
This morning, I decided I’d prioritize fishing over birding. I netted a half dozen finger mullet with my first cast of the net. These proved better bait than my soft plastic lure, but it took a couple hours before I got any bites on either. Worth the wait! Around 11:00 AM, I posted up on an emerging oyster-and-mudflat island and threw a live bait into a deep channel between islands. After a few minutes, my rod bowed over and the line went screaming. I pulled in a gorgeous, 22” Spotted Seatrout (Speckled Trout). I’ve caught a bunch of Red Drum in the marshes on past trips, but this was (somehow) my first ever speck. What a treat!
I decided to keep the fish. Like all humans, I need to eat, and I can’t think of a better form of sustenance than self-harvested seafood. I put the fish on a stringer to keep it alive as I gathered my gear and figured out the cooler situation. This was apparently a mistake. Less than 5 minutes later, I’m standing at the front of my kayak (in about 4” of water), and the fish is tied up to the back of my kayak (in about 8” of water). Out of nowhere, a small shark—maybe 5 or 6 feet long—materializes a few feet away from my trout. I’m not sure if I saw it first, or if it saw me first. But the moment it noticed me, it thrashed sideways and got the hell out of dodge, soaking me in a spray of water. It circled the area for the next 5 minutes or so. Lesson learned—don’t put fish on stringers if you want to keep them. I can’t believe how quickly the shark came to the scene!
Other wildlife encounters were tamer. While cruising over a shallow sandflat, I came across what appeared to be two full-sized horseshoe crabs. The big one on the left kept nudging the one on the right. Eventually, I figured out that the one on the right was actually two on the right—mating—and the big one on the left was trying to pry them apart and get in on the action. Pretty wild! This was only the second time I’ve ever seen live horseshoe crabs, and my first time seeing adults.
Of course, the famous feral horses were everywhere, and I saw more than normal—maybe two dozen. Many were swimming across deep water to hang out on tidal flats a couple hundred yards from the island proper. I’ve occasionally seen horses swim on past trips to Shackleford, but never this many, or this far.
By noon, I decided that my spiritual, mental, and physical needs were already fulfilled for the day. I’d seen a bunch of great birds and other wildlife, and caught a lifer trout that I needed to either eat or put on (nonexistent) ice. So, I called it a day, headed back to the campsite, ate a five-star lunch, and then took a nap.
Although the temperature essentially never changed the entire weekend (ranging from 78 to 81F), it sure felt hot throughout the sunny afternoon. I cooled off in the tidal creek for an hour or so, admiring the rotation of birds moving around between feeding zones as the tide came in.
That was pretty much it. I hit the sack as the sun set and got a decent night’s sleep. My slumber was momentarily interrupted at 3:00 AM by rain falling through my mesh tent top. After checking the radar on-and-off for a half hour, I decided to leave my rain fly off. A little rain is better than an oven, after all.
Sunday
I awoke early Sunday morning and went for a hike around the dunes, beach, and scrubby cedar forest. The sunrise scenery was sublime, with mostly clear skies and some well-placed clouds to the east. I’m still not sure the cause, but I saw another bizarre linear division of the sky, similar to the sunset in Florida a few weeks back.
The beach was my first stop. High tide meant a bunch of shorebirds were roosting on the beach, and I found a Long-billed Curlew among 18 total species of shorebirds.
Interestingly, I also saw a few human beings, who presumably got dropped off by the ferry and camped on the beach. I don’t usually see other people on Shack while I’m camping, but it was Labor Day weekend, so I’m not surprised.
My hike back through the woods didn’t turn up much of interest, other than a couple Golden Silk Spiders and a handful of early morning butterflies.
Back at the campsite, I finished off the last of my fresh water, so it was time to leave the island. (2 gallons of water, plus a fair amount of beer, lasted me less than 36 hours. I’ve never had this issue before, but I’ll remember for next time.)
As I left Shackleford by kayak, I caught the very beginnings of the falling tide. That meant more scenery, horses, and birds.
I got some nice photos of some of my favorite shorebirds, including Whimbrels and Marbled Godwits. I also saw a Long-billed Curlew (possibly the same one seen earlier on the beach).
The ride back to Harkers Island was choppy, but I managed. I can barely remember what this trip was like without a motor on my kayak! As I neared Morgan Island (about halfway back), I was treated to brief glimpses of a sea turtle (either Loggerhead or Green, not sure) and a stingray. Both were about 3’ across.
After regaining solid land, I faced a choice. I had originally planned to continue the weekend adventure, driving to Cedar Island, hopping on a ferry over to Ocracoke, then another ferry over to Hatteras, where I was going to camp and look for a rare bird or two. But no one had reported the rarities for about a week. So, I decided to end the trip on a high note, heading straight home. I’m glad I did!
Summary by the Numbers
Here’s an abbreviated summary: I drove 400 miles, kayaked 12 (8 with a motor, 4 with a paddle), and walked 2. I saw only 59 species of birds, but they were quality over quantity. Of those, 3 were new to my Carteret County list (at 174 after the trip), and 1 species was new to my 2024 list (396 species after the trip; I’ve traveled a lot this year). My only lifer was a fish (and possibly a cricket), but that’s by no means a complaint. I have no complaints about this trip!
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