Tundra Swan Takeoff

Mark Buckler Photography Workshop

     Mark Buckler (link), is a professional Photographer who resides on the outer banks of North Carolina.  I attended his Winter Waterfowl Of The NC Coast  workshop this month.  We concentrated our activities on the Pocosin National Wildlife Refuge, the Mattamuskeet NWR, and the surrounding areas. What a great trip! 

     Mark picked me up at my lodging each day, chauffeured me to the best potential viewing sites, and gave me personal instruction on exposures, focus and other photography techniques.  I also learned a lot about the wildlife and other information about the Pocosin and Mattamuskeet areas.  It was such a great pleasure to have a guide who was willing to share his knowledge and give such personal attention that led me to get the some of the best pictures that I’ve ever taken.  I can highly recommend this workshop.

     So enough of that, on with the Blog.

The Landscape of the Area

Lake Mattamuskeet sunrise from one of the viewing platforms

     I’ll start with some landscape shots to give you an idea what the area is like. National Wildlife Refuges dominate the area and are managed for the winter migrating waterfowl. Retention ponds and flooded farm fields are common just to accommodate the migrating birds. Many of these birds traversed the continental United States in November and early December. They arrive from Alaska and Northern Canada and use this area to fatten up and rest before the March migration back north to the breeding areas.

‘Swan Pond’ Pics

     Wednesday afternoon there must have been about 4000 Tundra Swans on this impoundment area. Although the numbers varied throughout the rest of the week, there were always swans to be seen. For photography purposes, a south wind is ideal so that the take-offs are straight at you into the wind.  And for the first afternoon/evening that is just what we had, along with perfect light conditions because the sun was at our back. Here are my favorites from all three days, but most are from the first evening when the light was nearly perfect.

— Click on any pic and scroll through the full size images —

Snow Geese

Snow Geese rising out of a farm field

      Mark reported that the Snow Geese have been content to spend most of their time on the lake the last few years, making fewer foraging flights than in the past. We did get to see one of these flights to the farm field near ‘Bear Road’ on Friday morning. Although they remained on the other side of the field, it was still quite an experience to see tens of thousands of Snow Geese take flight all at once. The visual experience was additionally enhanced by the unforgettable sounds of the whole flock rising out of the field.

These pictures are pretty basic, but illustrate the morning event.

Incidental Sightings

Great Blue Heron Takeoff

Below are a few pics of some of the other birds that I sighted in the area. 

Mouse over the image for its name, or click on one and scroll through the larger images.

 — Thanks For The Look —

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