Sunrise at Lake Mattamuskeet

Saturday, I headed out to eastern North Carolina for some wildlife photography. Chris was going out there and invited me to join him and Mel. It’s a three-hour drive from Raleigh and we wanted to make it there by sunrise, so that meant a very early morning. We left Raleigh at about 330 and headed east on US-64 and US-264 towards the coastal region, driving the entire way under darkness. Our first stop was Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge. After passing through Swan Quarter on US-264, we turned onto NC-94 and headed towards the overlook in the middle of the lake. It was just starting to get light out and the sun would be up soon. But it was extremely cold, especially with the wind blowing off the lake.

We bundled up as we set up our cameras and got a few pictures of geese on the water and a beautiful sunrise over the lake.

From here, we turned around and parked along NC-94 across from Headquarters Road facing the west side of the lake. In the water were many tundra swans, Canada geese, and ducks.

Many of the tundra swans appeared to be sleeping with their heads resting under their wings. As early morning light began moving westward and started illuminating the lake, the birds began to wake. However, it was still too early for the sunlight to provide much warmth. After this stop, we headed down Headquarters Road. Almost immediately, we made a quick stop (without even getting out of the warm car) to get a couple shots of an egret and a great blue heron wading in the canal.

Then we drove a little further, parking about halfway down at another overlook facing south towards the wetland impoundment.

The lake was to the north, but hidden from view by dense trees and brush on the other side of the canal, but to the south, the impoundment was filled a tremendous number of birds.

It’s still early in the season and most of the migratory waterfowl that overwinter in the lake have not yet arrived. But still, the number of birds in the lake was amazing.

There were countless ducks, geese, and swans in the lake as well as a few other birds. I even saw a beautiful bald eagle soaring across the sky, but he was a little too quick for me to get a good picture.

Far across the wetland, we could see some juvenile bald eagles perched in a tree.

We spent quite some time here getting photos of the birds, despite the bitter cold.

When we were done, we continued on Headquarters Road to the refuge office. Even here, there were great birding opportunities.

We same some black-crowned night herons hiding in the trees above our heads and there was a tree right at the parking lot covered with turkey vultures, extending their wings to dry them off in the sun.

After getting some pictures, we headed into the refuge office. We talked to Allie, one of the refuge staff, for quite some time about the wildlife and photography opportunities. She had taken a fabulous picture of a baby bobcat during one of her patrols around the refuge. Allie also told us about a once-in-a-lifetime birding opportunity – there was a snowy owl in Cape Hatteras. That was something we just couldn’t pass up. But before we headed for the beach, we had one more stop here. Back on US-264, we pulled off at Lake Landing and parked for a few more pictures.

There were quite a few ibises in the area and I got a good shot of two of them on a railing. Then, it was time to head to the beach and try to see the snowy owl.