Life by the Waters of the White Oak

Another December is about to pass into memory. I might be a little disappointed that our weather has been not been as glorious as some years that I have written about, yet another great fall. However, with no hurricane like Florence to make fall challenging, I am more thankful than disappointed.

A body of water like Raymond’s Gut which stretches from the White Oak into the marsh is like a watery game trail and those of us living by it have ringside seats. Some years like 2014, I have taken our skiff down the river wearing my standard uniform of shorts in mid-December. This year has not risen to that level but there has been little weather other than one nor’easter to challenge us.

We are blessed to live by waters that delight us each day with a new window into the natural world. If you ever have a chance to park yourself along the water for a few years, do not miss the opportunity. We have seen things from our kitchen window that some folks never have a chance to see. You cannot ask for a better place to appreciate our natural world than the shores of Raymond’s Gut.

Life alongside the water with its cast of characters that frequent our marsh is entertaining at the very least. An early morning walk along the marsh is hardly complete without seeing some kingfishers swooping along the surface of the water. Sometimes I watch them capture a meal and proceed to tenderize it by pounding it on a piling. Then there are the loons and otters and many years we have lots of ducks from mallards to mergansers. This year the ducks haven’t made it to our marsh but I hear that they have filled the skies up around Core Sound. Our most famous visitor is Frank 29X, the Canadian great egret, who first visited the marsh in December 2012. Frank showed up behind our house this year on Tuesday, December 10. That is eight Decembers that 29X has waded our waters. As ex-Canadians we feel honored to rate such regular visits.

Frank has not been the only Great Egret in the marsh. At times in December 2019, I have been able to count as many as twenty-four great egrets from my office windows. During our egret visitation, I filmed a small egret gathering outside my office window. Even this morning, Christmas Eve, I could see six great egrets and watched as eight Great Egrets and one Great Blue Heron flew by our dock just before noon. We also had a nice visit from a pair of otters on December 11.

This photo album taken during the winter of 2013 provides lots of bird and critter pictures along with shots from kayak trips. More water and some beach shots can be found in this fall 2014 album. With great Crystal Coast weather, the choice of what to do is only limited by your free hours. Now that we are into December, my kayaking has wound down. My days of kayaking to the center of the river in December as the water cools are probably over. I have a little more sense than I did ten years ago.

Even with our less-than-perfect fall of 2019, the weather has not been particularly cold. Like we often do, we got through November without a killing frost along the edges of Raymond’s Gut where we live just off of the White Oak River. We have enjoyed some warm days well into December. Like some years, it took us until the third week of December before our volunteer tomatoes were killed by frost.

Fall 2019 has also not been nearly as wet as some years. This year’s 35 inches for the last seven months is about what we got during the few days of Florence. For comparison in 2015 our rain total since June 1 stood at 59.4 inches. In 2016, our total was 40.2 inches, a few inches more than this year. Only fall 2017 was drier than this year with about three inches in each month, October and November. The trout fishing was better this year, but overall, I think fishing was better in 2017. No one is complaining about getting less rain. We were reasonably dry until the recent December rains. Even the rain that we got on December 23, 2019, only brought us three-quarters of an inch. Coastal areas of SC and Georgia got much more than we did.

Variable weather comes with living along the coast. When water is at your doorstep there are some benefits like later frosts and extended spring weather. Each year the waters are slow to cool in the fall and sometimes not so quick to warm in the spring. We are also on the doorstep of a huge weather machine that often spawns storms just off our coast. We often either get brushed by storms or watch them spin up and head north to clobber New England or the Canadian Maritimes.

Life by the water is never boring and sometimes more exciting than you would want.

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