Welcome the Newest Jr. Rangers!

My class completed their Jr. Ranger books and I was able to officially swear them in as Jr. Rangers today!  They are very proud of their badges.

Well, my 8 weeks as a park ranger for the National Park Service have ended.  What a wonderful summer I had!  Some of the highlights of my summer have been holding and releasing a sea turtle hatchling, climbing Ocracoke lighthouse, night climbs of Hatteras lighthouse, and meeting all sorts of wonderful visitors from all over the United States.  The park rangers I met and worked with this summer will always have a special place in my heart.  Readers, these are a group of very dedicated and intelligent people who work hard every day to pass on their appreciation of the nature and history of the Outer Banks to everyone who visits.  I want to thank Pat, Jason, and Chris, my roommates Eileen and Debbie, and all the other wonderful Rangers I worked and spent time with this summer.  They all welcomed me and helped me learn to be a ranger.  Because of them, I had a awesome experience and learned so much!  I also want to thank my family for allowing me to have this adventure.  I am excited to return to my 2nd graders and share with them all the information I have learned this summer.
Stay tuned:  I hope to enroll at least one more group of Junior Rangers this year!

~ Kelly

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Let me tell you some of the history of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.  It was built in 1870.  The lighthouse was built on Cape Hatteras to warn passing ships of the dangerous Diamond Shoals:  a series of shifting sand bars that extend from the Point of Cape Hatteras, out 15 miles into the ocean. It is these sandbars that caused hundreds of ships to wreck here over the last 500 or so years and caused this area to be nicknamed "The Graveyard of the Atlantic."

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in North America.  It stands 198 1/2 feet tall.  When it was first built in 1870, it was red brick.  3 years later, the distinctive black and white stripes were painted on to the lighthouse.  These stripes are called the lighthouse's daymark:  they allow ships to tell where they are at by looking at the markings of the lighthouse.  Earlier in my blog, I pointed out that Bodie Island lighthouse has horizontal black and white stripes (June 23rd).  Each lighthouse along the Coast has a different daymark to aid in navigation.

      

Did you know that this lighthouse was moved?  Read on to learn more!

Cape Hatteras LIghthouse

Since I began my summer at the Cape Hatteras LIghthouse 8 weeks ago, it seems fitting that I should finish up my blog with the lighthouse.  This is a beautiful lighthouse during the day, but I think the best time to climb it, or come look at it, is at night.  I climbed the lighthouse 4 times at night.  The Park Service holds what is called a "night climb" once a week during the summer.  They also have a "Full Moon Climb"  once a month.  I went to my last night climb Thursday night, it was beautiful!  The moon was almost full and shining off the ocean.  The next best thing to being at the top of the lighthouse at night is sitting on the ground underneath it and watching the beam shine out into the night.  It makes you think of how that beam has shone out into the ocean for over 140 years, guiding sailors.  The light from the lighthouse can be seen 20 miles out to sea.  I can just imagine the comfort a sailor felt when they saw that reliable signal shining out to help guide them safely on their journey.

Ollie and Flat Stanley!

Hi Everyone!

Ollie went with me to the top of the lighthouse yesterday.  While we were there, we met a young man who brought Flat Stanley with him!  The boy's name was Ian, and he let me take a photo with Ollie and Flat Stanley, thought you all might like to see it:

NOAA Ship Open House

Hi Everyone!

Our National Parks were created to conserve natural areas and historic areas, and to protect the wildlife that live in these places.  Did you know that we also have 14 National Marine Sanctuaries?  The word marine means that these areas relate to the sea.  Thus, our nation's marine sanctuaries are areas of protected waters that provide a safe habitat for endangered species, humpback whales for example,  and also protect historic shipwrecks still lying at the bottom of the ocean.  One of the National Marine Sanctuaries lies off the coast of North Carolina.  It is the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.  

Ollie and I at the Wright Brothers Memorial

Yes former students, Ollie is here in North Carolina with me!  Today the two of us went off  Hatteras island for the first time in weeks and went to the Wright Brothers memorial.  I hope my former second graders remember how we read a story about the Wright Brothers and discussed their first flight in North Carolina.
So here are some pictures:

Here is Ollie sitting on the wing of the Wright Flyer (don't know if he was supposed to sit there, so don't try this yourself if you ever visit!)

Here is a photo of Ollie and me at the rock that marks the spot where the Wright Brothers first flew:

I took a photo of the rocks marking the end of the first 4 flights the brothers took.  That picture is next.  I will have lots of other photos from this visit in Ollie's journal at the beginning of the year, you will all have to stop by to see for yourself!

Sea Turtle Hatchlings, continued

Hopefully you all read the previous posting about my attending a turtle nest excavation.  If you didn't, go and read it  and then come back.  I will continue this post on the next page, click on "read more"

Sea Turtle Hatchlings!

Hi Everyone!

Yesterday was a big day for me!  I got to attend a Sea Turtle nest evacuation with the Resource Rangers.  The Resource Rangers are the rangers who monitor wildlife here in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
The nest that we visited had already had 70+ sea turtle hatchlings emerge and go to the sea 3 days before.

What your seeing in this picture is the ranger beginning to dig out the turtle nest.  He knew where to dig because of that white pole sticking out of the ground and also because when this nest was located they buried a GPS device to help them find the nest.

Friday morning I went to a program called "Fishing with a Ranger."  The park provides fishing poles (all you need to bring is your bait) and teaches you how to cast into the surf.  It was lots of fun.  You can see from the picture that we had quite a few people participate.  A lot of small fish were caught - nothing big enough to keep. Surf fishing on the beach is a very popular activity here on the Outer Banks.  This program gives people a chance to participate and see if they like surf fishing.









Lighthouse climb total:  12

Sea turtles continued

Female sea turtles lay their eggs during the months of May to November.  A female sea turtle may make 2-3 nests in a nesting season.  Sea turtles come back to the beach where they themselves hatched to lay their own eggs.  A female sea turtle will come out of the ocean at night, make her way slowly up the beach to above the high tide line.  Then she will use her back flippers to dig a hole.  She will deposit 100-150 egg in the hole, cover it up with her flippers and make her way back to the ocean.  She will not care for the nest or the baby sea turtles, they are on their own from here on out.  It takes about 2 months for the eggs to hatch.

Every morning here on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, our resource rangers go on something called "turtle patrol."  They drive on the beach in a 4-wheel drive vehicle, looking for signs that a turtle has come on to the beach and made a nest.  What they will see is very distinctive tracks in the sand that show a turtle has been there.  Once they verify that there is a nest, they rope off the nest area, and mark it with signs to keep people away.  They even take the GPS coordinates of the nest so that they could locate it if a big wave washes the signs away.
Since the rangers know when the nests on Hatteras were laid, they can guess when the baby sea turtles will hatch.  In order to help the baby sea turtles make their way safely to the ocean after hatching, the rangers put a black tarp all around the nest and heading down to the beach.  I have a picture of a nest just down the beach from me that is due to hatch any day:

One reason the tarp is black is that baby sea turtles are attracted to light, whether it be the light of the moon shining on the surface of the ocean, or the light from the rising sun.  The black blocks the light and funnels the sea turtles in the right direction.  What is sad is that in some places where the rangers do not do this for the baby sea turtles, they will sometimes head the wrong way, away from the ocean and towards the lights from people's beach houses!  When this happens the baby sea turtles do not make it to the sea and die.

Sea Turtles

Hi Everyone!

I am going to talk, for the next few days, about sea turtles.  Sea turtles differ from land turtles in a few ways.  Land turtles have legs and move slowly on land.  Sea turtles' legs have modified into flippers, which they can use for quick bursts of speed swimming or diving deep in the ocean.  Land turtles can retract their head and limbs into their shell when they need protection.  A sea turtle cannot retract its head or legs into its shell, it must escape danger by swimming quickly, by diving deep in the ocean, or by hiding among rocks at the bottom of the ocean and using its shell as a sort of shield.
Female sea turtles tend to return to the same area where they hatched to lay their own eggs.  The Cape Hatteras National Seashore currently has 104 sea turtle nests on its beaches:  7 Green Turtle nests and 97 Loggerhead turtle nests.  Tomorrow, I will talk some more about turtle nesting.


Total number of times I climbed the lighthouse:  10

Lighthouse climb total:  8

Yes, there are deer on Hatteras Island!  I took this picture when I drove down to the point of Hatteras Island today.  The deer here are not as big as Ohio deer, they are much thinner also.  I believe this is due to the fact that there isn't as much grass on the island, and the grass that there is isn't as green and thick as grass in Ohio.   There are also raccoons -- unfortunately the raccoons like to eat sea turtle eggs.
I also see lizards, tree frogs, snakes, and some beautiful black and yellow butterflies.  From the Sound to the Ocean, there are so many different types of creatures on the Outer Banks!

Lighthouse climb total: 7


Hi everyone!  I am working on my program on sea turtles. I will share interesting facts about sea turtles with you.  For example, did you know that once a male sea turtle baby enters the sea after hatching, it will never again leave the sea?  Male sea turtles live their whole lives in the sea.  Female sea turtles will return to shore to lay their eggs.

I also found an interesting website you may want to check out.  You can become a web ranger!  This website allow you to investigate lots of different areas of our country's national parks.  For example, you can help a sea turtle through a maze, learn about rip currents (very important if you are swimming in the ocean or even Lake Erie), or even investigate the lives of famous Americans like Abraham LIncoln.
Here's the link and I will add it to the blog:
http://www.webrangers.us/

Lighthouse climb total: 6


Hi Everyone!

Sorry I haven't blogged for a few days.  Some of you may already know that my family is down here vacationing for a week, so I have been spending my evenings with them (instead of blogging.)  I am now on my own at the lighthouse, I am no longer following a trainer around.  Yesterday was very busy at the lighthouse.  I worked at the base of the lighthouse, where you give a short safety talk to people before they climb the lighthouse and then take their tickets and send them up.  Since my family came over to visit me while I was working at the base of the lighthouse, my husband took some pictures of me "in action."  I will share one with you.

Seining in the Sound

Hi!
Today I joined two other rangers:  Jennifer and Jon, to give a program called Seining in the Sound.  I did not know what seining was until I tried it.  Two people have a net that has weight on the bottom, they each hold an end of the net and kind of drag it along the bottom of the sound.  Then, you tip the net up to see what you "caught."

Lighthouse climb total 5


Today was a fun day for me, I got to swear in my first Junior Rangers!  A child becomes a Jr. Ranger by completing a booklet with interesting facts and information about the Outer Banks and the animals that live here.  When you become a Jr. Ranger, you get a ranger badge, similar to the real one rangers wear, and a certificate.  The kids that became rangers today were very proud of their accomplishment!  Former students:  do you think Ollie should go for his Jr. Ranger badge?  Leave your comments!

Lighthouse climb total:  4 1/2


Hi Everyone!  Today was very similar to yesterday so I will just give you a quick update:  tomorrow I get to start wearing my uniform!  Look for the photo tomorrow!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Lighthouse climb total:  3 1/2 times


Hi Everyone!

Today was a busy day for me,  I spent much of the day at the lighthouse, I worked at the base of the lighthouse, as a "floater" inside the lighthouse, and at the top of the lighthouse.  At the base you greet the visitors who are climbing and give them a safety talk before they climb.  My boss let me give the safety talk 2 times by the end of the day!  That's pretty exciting because I am still not wearing my uniform, so he had to introduce me as a ranger in training.  When you are a floater, you are inside the lighthouse on one of the landings, usually about 1/2 way up the lighthouse.  The floaters job is to keep an eye on the people who are climbing and help them in any way as they go.  Since it can get hot inside the lighthouse, the heat index while I was in it was 91 degrees, the floater ranger also watches to make sure no one becomes ill while they are climbing.  The ranger at the top of the lighthouse answers questions that the visitors have once they reach the top and points out things of interest in the view.  I have 2 pictures to show you regarding that view:  the first one illustrates how narrow the Outer Banks can be.  If you look at this picture, you see the Pamlico Sound on the left side, a narrow strip of land (with the one road) in the middle, and the Atlantic Ocean on the right side.  Imagine what happens to these narrow strips when a hurricane comes through and churns up the ocean waves!  Do the waves wash over the road?  They sure do!

The second picture I took shows the path the lighthouse took when they moved it in 1999, Yes!  They moved the lighthouse!  I will have to do at least a whole blog entry on the move, if not more.  But, to get started, you can tell in this picture the path the lighthouse took by looking at the cleared out space below. Part of the cleared area was turned into a parking lot.  If you follow the cleared path to the top of the picture, that is the spot where the lighthouse stood from 1870 until 1999.

Ocracoke Island

Friday, I went to Ocracoke Island to visit.  Unless you have an airplane, the only way to get to Ocracoke Island is by ferry.  There are no bridges you can drive over to get there.  You can take your car on the ferry.  Here is a picture of what one of the ferries looks like:

The ferry ride is about 45 minutes long.  On Ocracoke, I visited the lighthouse:

Bodie Island Lighthouse, Continued

Did anyone notice a difference between the top of the Bodie Island lighthouse and the top of Hatteras lighthouse?  You can go back and look, I will wait....................  look closely............ it's not the stripes, they're different, but we'll talk about that later................




You may notice the top of the Bodie Island lIghthouse is black.  The Bodie Island lighthouse is currently not being lit at night.  Last year, when we vacationed here, It was covered with scaffolding and they were beginning to make repairs to the lighthouse.  Well, they ran out of money for the repairs and found that many more repairs were needed than first thought.  So, they took down the scaffolding (it was ugly!) and now are waiting for the Federal Government to give more money to continue renovating the lighthouse.  The windows at the top of the lighthouse are covered with black tarp, the glass and the lens have all been removed.  It is very sad, after watching Hatteras Lighthouse shine every night, to go to Bodie Island and see it turned off.  You cannot climb it, like you can Hatteras, only look at it and visit the lighthouse keeper's quarters.  There is also a nature trail you can walk, and I hear there are rattlesnakes!  Luckily the trail is raised, but I am going to try to photograph a snake this summer! From a very safe distance!

Day 4

Lighthouse climb total:  2 1/2 times




Today I took a day-trip up to the Bodie Island lighthouse.  Bodie (pronounced "body") Island lighthouse is the next lighthouse to the north of here.  All the lighthouses in North Carolina are 40 miles apart.  While I was there, I met a volunteer named John Gaskill.  He is the son of the man who was the last lighthouse keeper at the Bodie Island lighthouse!  He lived at the lighthouse with his family back in 1918!  He can remember what the island was like before there were bridges here:  when you had to take a boat over and then drive on the beach because there were no roads here!  He can remember before there was electricity on the island and his father had to carry heavy buckets of kerosene up the lighthouse to keep the light lit.  It was so great to have the opportunity to talk to him!  


I am putting up a picture of the Bodie Island lighthouse, see if you can notice any differences between it and the Hatteras lighthouse!  More to come on this subject!

Big day coming tomorrow, I am looking forward to sharing it with you all!

I am here!

I started my first day as a Ranger today!  This week I will be learning all the things a Ranger does.  I started out my morning by climbing to the top of the Hatteras lighthouse. The view from the top of the lighthouse is wonderful!  I had to climb 257 steps to get to the top, it is like climbing a 12 story building!

Did you know that turtles have beaks?  I did not!  I am adding a picture of a turtle skull that the Rangers use for lectures.

This week I get to go to the Bodie Island Lighthouse and the Ocracoke Island lighthouse, so I will share pictures with you of both of those lighthouses.

More coming!  Thanks for reading!

This is where I will be working!  The Hatteras Lighthouse and Visitor Center.

I should be smiling-- isn't it beautiful?

This is a turtle skull, the darker part is its beak.

Where am I going?

This is a map that shows where Cape Hatteras is compared to Ohio.  Cape Hatteras is about 675 driving miles from Elyria.

Hatteras Island is what is called a "barrier island"  That means it is a long narrow strip of sand that built up thousands of years ago parallel to the Atlantic Coast of the U.S..  They have their own unique habitats that I will try to show you over the course of this summer.