Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.

~Dr. Seuss

Last weekend, I had the privilege of co-leading a group of folks to two of my favorite NC places, the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes NWR and Mattamuskeet NWR. It was for a program sponsored by the NC Botanical Garden and New Hope Bird Alliance. Due to some scheduling issues, leaders from NHBA could not make it so I asked Melissa to be drive her car and be a co-lead. That was fitting that we got to do this trip together again given the many times we shared the teaching of educator workshops here in the past.

Cold and windy describes the weather on the first afternoon’s outing. We didn’t get to Pungo until late in the day and settled in at the front fields of the refuge waiting for the snow geese to arrive (there were already thousands of tundra swans on the scene). And when they did, they did it in their typical grand style…

-The spectacle of thousands of snow geese coming into the fields on the Pungo Unit

You wait in anticipation of the huge flocks of snow geese and then you see them, squiggly gray streaks on the horizon. Soon they are overhead in a great swarm. They circle and circle, crisscrossing themselves in the sky until finally they start to settle in a noisy snow globe of birds. It was a stunning start to our time together.

The birds were quite cooperative allowing me to get a number of photos of them coming in to land.

I always hope to see the diminutive Ross’s Geese mixed in with the huge flocks of their bigger cousins, and with this many birds being so close (probably 100 feet away as they landed), it was a good opportunity. Can you spot the Ross’s Goose in the next photo (they are about 1/2 to 2/3 the size of a Snow Goose with a noticeably shorter bill).

The next morning came early (earlier than usual for many methinks). A cold wind was blowing, and the skies were a dull gray when we arrived at Marsh A, my favorite sunrise spot at Pungo. There weren’t as many swans as I often see but the sounds were still mesmerizing. We decided to do a short hike in hopes of seeing a resident screech owl and were surprised when the Eastern sky started to glow, a brief tease of a sunrise that lasted only a minute.

After a couple of hours at Pungo, we headed over to Mattamuskeet. We spent considerable time looking through scopes at various species of ducks – gadwall, green-winged and blue-winged teal, Northern pintails, American widgeon, Northern Shovelers, ruddy ducks, among others.

After a nice visit to the Visitor Center (where my favorite faux refuge staff stars in their “airboat” interpretive video – check it out next time you are down that way and see if you recognize her), we headed over to the New Holland Trail. Every time I visit this beautiful boardwalk I feel compelled to take the same photo at the same spot capturing the reflections of the cypress trees. I used to sell photos at the museum store and the staff frequently turned this pic upside down assuming it was a photo taken looking up at the sky.

Looking at the amazing lodge brought back a flood of memories of this wonderful place that has showed me (and countless others that were with me) so many beautiful skies and amazing birds over the years.

As is the usual plan, we headed back to Pungo for the final show of the day (hopefully another snow goose spectacle). Several of the participants had to leave early and missed a truly amazing scene. The birds were closer and I took way too many photos of birds landing.

And, once again, I found couple of Ross’s Geese to make my day complete.

There were numerous blast offs by the snow geese, occasionally from a fly-over by a bald eagle, other times for reasons known only to the goose that started it.

The end of the day brought so many amazing sights and sounds as the birds filled the sky above the fields that were also full of tundra swans.

A full day of birds was a great way to finish something I had been doing for so long, sharing the wonders of the winter birds of Eastern North Carolina with others. What a privilege for all those years.

–The skies above Pungo filled with black and white wings on our last evening