activities for children. We're working 

 with Scouting so that Scouts will be 

 able to fulfill some badge require- 

 ments." 



Overall, White says, the 

 festival's organizers are working hard 

 to make Wings Over Water more 

 inclusive, an event that supports 

 binding as well as other naturalist 

 activities. "Wings Over Water has 

 always been called 'A Celebration of 

 Wildlife and Wildlands in Eastern 

 North Carolina,'" White says. "We're 

 reaching out to tap into all kinds of 

 environmental activities." 



I get to sleep in 

 until the bird clock chirps 7: a robin, 

 one of the few birds I knew before 

 coming to Wings Over Water. 



My final field trip is a tramp 

 through Nags Head Woods, a wildlife 

 preserve owned by The Nature 

 Conservancy. I'm looking forward to 

 exploring the "globally rare maritime 

 forest, towering dunes and dark 

 swamps" promised in the schedule. 

 And my last trip proves to be a 

 perfect close to a wonderful weekend. 



Jeff DeBlieu, whose wife, Jan, 



wrote Hatteras Journal and Wind, is the 

 Nags Head Woods preserve director and 

 our hike leader. He's also a talented 

 storyteller who makes the natural history 

 of the preserve come alive. 



For three hours, we follow winding 

 trails uphill and down, marveling at the 

 beauty of the woods and wetlands. Oaks, 

 hickories and beeches push from the sandy 

 soil, tangled with poison ivy and trumpet 

 vine. Swamps lie between ancient sand 

 ridges, home to the stumps of long-dead 

 trees. 



We pay respects to the preserve's 

 former residents, who lie in a hollow 

 beneath crumbling gravestones and 

 bleached white conch shells. Beneath the 

 roots of the preserve's oldest tree, a 500- 

 year-old live oak, I find the skulls of nutria, 

 with their orange, beaver-like teeth. And 

 we search without success for the pileated 

 woodpecker we can hear calling in the 

 trees. 



The pileated is the largest woodpecker 

 in North America. "In Florida, they call it 

 the 'Oh-my-God bird,'" says Robin 

 Wallace, an avid birder and fish biologist. 

 Huge size notwithstanding, we never spot 

 the woodpecker — though we do see 

 wood ducks and phoebes. 



In a stunning conclusion to our tour, 

 DeBlieu guides us up the steep slope of 

 Run Hill, a towering sand dune that has 



been moving slowly to the southwest for 

 more than a century. It swallows the live 

 trees in its path and leaves behind only 

 dead snags. From the top, we can look out 

 over estuarine marshes and Roanoke 

 Sound to the dark shoreline of Manteo. 

 I leave Nags Head Woods with a silent 

 promise to return. As I climb the span of 

 the long bridge from Manteo to the 

 mainland, three pelicans fly low over the 

 summit. It's a kind of benediction, and a 

 fitting end to a magical three days. For a 

 moment, suspended between the sound 

 and the sky, I feel as free as they seem. □ 



Wings Over Water 1999 is Nov. 

 5-7. World-renowned ornithologist 

 Jerome Jackson will be the keynote 

 speaker. Saturday's festival will be held 

 at Manteo Middle School. Registration 

 is $45; $35 before Oct. 1. Field trips 

 range from $10 to $75; workshops are 

 $10 and nightly programs are free. 

 Participating educators may receive 

 credit toward North Carolina's 

 environmental education certification. 

 For a schedule of events and registra- 

 tion form, contact the Alligator River 

 National Wildlife Refuge at 252/473- 

 1131 ext. 19, or check the Web at 

 www.northeast-nc.com/wings. 



Flock of pelicans 



Great blue heron and yellow-bellied sliders 



Birding on Run Hill 



COASTWATCH 



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