Don't be surprised if 

 someday you see a giant 

 crab stalking the beach 

 near Duck. Thirty-five 

 ft. high, 25 ft. wide and 

 weighing 15,000 pounds, 

 this crab is no typical 



crustacean. It's the coastal research 

 amphibious buggy (crab) designed and 

 built by the Wilmington District of the 

 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to 

 collect data on the ocean bottom. Its 

 home is the Corps' Field Research 

 Facility a mile north of Duck. 



Powered by a Volkswagen engine, 

 the tripod-shaped vehicle rolls out into 

 the water with scientists perched atop. 

 The crab is capable of going out to 

 depths of 30 ft. for bottom-sampling. 

 The facility's staff used it during 

 tropical storm Dennis to record the 

 storm's effect on the bottom. 



But the crab isn't the only attrac- 

 tion to scientists using the Field 

 Research Facility. Four years ago, a 

 1,840-ft. steel-piling, concrete pier was 

 built and fitted with wave gauges, 

 wind instruments and other equipment 

 feeding data into the lab's computer 

 system. Equipment is checked four 

 times daily by the staff of 10 for 

 numerous changes in the beach profile. 



According to Kurt Mason, chief of 

 the facility, the area has been 

 available, not only for Corps-related 

 projects, but also for research by uni- 

 versities and science foundations at no 

 charge. Last year, Sea Grant 

 researcher Ernie Knowles from North 

 Carolina State University (NCSU) 

 joined 40 international scientists at the 

 facility for a two-month study on wave 

 direction and generation. Knowles' 



test buoy floated beside buoys from 

 Canada and Norway, providing par- 

 ticipants a chance to compare equip- 

 ment and data. 



Two other Sea Grant researchers, 

 Tom Curtin and Yates Sorrell of 

 NCSU, have used the facility's pier in 

 their work. Twice, they have set out 

 their current-monitoring gear on 

 brackets mounted to the pier, and 

 have matched data with that collected 

 by the facility. "That's one of the most 

 valuable things about this facility," 

 Curtin says. "Not only do they have 

 an excellent platform, but also com- 

 plementary data." 



Any individuals or groups interested 

 in the Field Research Facility should 

 contact Kurt Mason. In addition to 

 oceanographic experiments, Mason 

 says, "we think this pier is alsc ex- 

 cellent for biological sampling." The 

 staff gives guided tours of the pier and 

 part of the facility each weekday from 

 Memorial Day to Labor Day. For 

 more information, call (919) 261-3511. 



/^T^\ Come Christmas, 

 /t^^r>.\ some people count more 

 / ^JSH \ tnan gi lts under the tree, 

 V3J, I they count winter birds 

 \ V*m]l Ior the National 

 \ ^7 Audubon Society. Each 

 \ — S winter during a two- 

 week period specified by the society, 

 birdwatchers gather for a single day of 

 intense bird-counting. Biologists think 

 Christmas time is the period when win- 

 ter bird populations are the most 

 stable. The groups search an area 15 

 miles in diameter to determine what 

 species are present and how many 



birds there are. 



Jim Parnell, a biologist at UNC- 

 Wilmington and a bird expert, says the 

 Wilmington group he counts with 

 spotted 148 species of winter birds last 

 year. Parnell says a friendly rivalry 

 develops between counting teams as 

 they compete to see which groups can 

 spot the most species of birds. Last 

 year 18 groups counted birds across 

 North Carolina. 



After a day of counting, the groups 

 compile their statistics and send them 

 off to the National Audubon Society 

 (each group already has registered 

 with the society). Audubon then 

 publishes the statistics of each group in 

 its July edition of American Birds. 

 The Carolina Bird Club also publishes 

 a summary of the North Carolina 

 count in its publication, The Chat. 



Some biologists put little stock in 

 these statistics, saying they are 

 gathered haphazardly. But Parnell 

 says the counts can give biologists 

 trends in overall bird populations. 



If your club or group would like to 

 count birds, find out how by writing 

 the National Audubon Society. 



Coastwatch is published monthly 

 except July and December by the Uni- 

 versity of North Carolina Sea Grant 

 College Program, 105 1911 Building, 

 North Carolina State University, 

 Raleigh, NC 27650-5001. Vol. 8, No. 

 10, November/December, 1981. Dr. 

 B.J. Copeland, director. Neil Caudle, 

 editor. Kathy Hart and Cassie Griffin, 

 staff writers. Second-class postage paid 

 at Raleigh, NC 27611. 



COASTWATCH 



105 1911 Building 



North C arolina State University 



Raleigh, NC 27650 



Second-class postage paid 

 at Raleigh, NC 27611 

 (ISSN 0161-8369) 



12357 



STATE UF N C LIBRARY 

 109 E JONES ST 

 RALEIGH NC 27601 



424 M7 p Lpn 



05/14/07 45118 ° L | 



NNN 



