Pea Island

Protecting Local Wildlife

In the later part of the eighteenth century, the ducks and geese of the Outer Banks fed the diners in the restaurants of Baltimore and Paris. Commercial hunters using guns capable of killing over 50 birds a shot were utilized to provide that dining pleasure. By 1918 the migratory wildfowl of the Atlantic Seaboard was decimated. The skies that once were filled with birds that would block the sun were now empty.

The Migratory Wildfowl Act of 1918 prohibited commercial hunting and established the National Wildlife Service. Over years of careful management and study the great flyers of the past have returned. Pea Island Wildlife Refuge has saved hundreds of species from extinction. The birds have returned and sometimes the swans are so thick in the ponds of Pea Island that one can almost walk across their backs from side to side and remain dry. The geese that were almost gone, lost forever, stand by the road side feeding and raising their young.

This is a birders' paradise. Don't miss the opportunity to experience the giant V's of geese and the feeding of the swan. Come to Hatteras Island and see how nature has returned and humanity has triumphed over one of its serious mistakes. The birds are back, join us at Hatteras Realty for the beauty of nature and a vision of the positive changes we can make in the world if we dare to try.

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