Croatan National Forest~ Neuse River

Howdee all,

A few days ago we took a short walk in the

Neuse River area of the

Croatan National Forest

They had a nice campground that we considered moving to if we wanted to stay in the area longer.

We took a short walk to the river

wandered around the waterfront a bit

Not many birds seen, mostly Gulls

We then went back and decided to explore one of the trails near the campground

Loaded with American Robin and Red-winged blackbirds..

Looks like Pileated Woodpeckers have been at this tree looking for a meal

I noticed this snake on the side of the trail. It didn’t move at all until Jeff prodded it and then it just turned it head.

I was told by a few facebook friends that this is a Black Racer, but the photo I showed them was taken via my Ipod touch. There were thoughts it might be a Black Rat snake.

This photo taken with my point and shoot shows the scales better.

Any thoughts?

(Black Racer)

It was getting late and we still had more area to explore by car..So we cut our hike short..

We also were not sure if the trail we were on was the 20 mile trail..so we backtracked to the campground rather than continue on till midnight.

At the car parking area I noticed some orange mushrooms and went for a closer look.

I have not yet tried to key these out.

(Mock Oyster)

They look like pumpkin cookies that have been frosted..

Ha..ok..so maybe I was just hungry..

Don’t worry

I didn’t eat any…

We have since moved to another area of NC the~ Albemarle Peninsula

We are just outside of Washington, NC(America’s first city to be named for General George Washington.)

Our campsite faces a river

We took a drive after setting up camp yesterday and saw hundreds of Tundra Swan in a foggy farmers field.

Today is our down day….will just hang at in Homey for a bit before heading out for a short drive and walk.

We look forward to birding Lake Mattamuskeet, the largest natural lake in North Carolina at 40,000 surface acres.

If any of you know other sites for us to see in this area please let us know.