Poccosin Lakes

[jlphoto]

Going to be making a scouting trip out to Poccosin this weekend. Anyone want to join?

[boykinsbuddy]

Get up with themadduck...he'll probably join you on Sunday. He'll be in the area.

[jbwick]

How about in the morning (Thursday) ?????
jay

[themadduck]

Jay,
I'd love to go,but I have to attend my Mother In Law's funeral at 11am on Thursday

[jlphoto]

Jay, which Thursday? Yesterday's Thursday? HAH! Lets shoot for next week. Maybe oh, Monday if your available.

Lake Matty is still frozen but starting to break up with this slight warm up. More patches of open water. Next week - wed/thurs its going to be around 50 which will do all the ice in for good. I have to do a promo shoot for Segway those two days however.

Give me a ring and we can figure something out. I was just thinking maybe hit up Matty for a sunrise shoot and then shoot over to Poccosin from there if your into it. They changed some rules around over at Poccosin though and your no longer allowed into the fields - so no more setting up a blind or brushing up along the wood line but you can jump into the ditch to shoot.

Kenneth, if your up for the drive out, we can meet you over in Columbia and all ride together from there, or otherwise meet up at either one of the refuges.

Jared

[themadduck]

Jared,
I have a lot of work to catch up on from last week. I did make it over to Pocossin for a while last Friday. Dang, It was COLD and WINDY.
I found two adjacent fields full of Swans that were trading back and forth. I positioned myself on the flyway between the two fields and got some nice shots. About 3:15,the snow geese showed up in good numbers,also providing nice opportunities. I got 2 neck collared Snows and have already reported them.

1st Bird is close to 6 years old and had been sighted 9 other times,but my reported sighting was the first ill other sightings had been close to the banding location.
2nd bird was a yearling and had been reported once prior to my report and it also had been sighted close to the banding site.

If you go through Plymouth and take 45/99 south from Plymouth and follow 45 when it and 99 split. Follow 45 to Refuge Rd. There will be a Pocossin NWR sign. Turn left there. The Swans and Geese were in the first couple of fields on the right

[jlphoto]

Cool. I didn't catch any with neck bands last week when I was there.

On another note, I went out today where I have been seeing around 5,000 or so snow geese on private land and talked with the property owner. Turns out that he not only spreads corn all winter for those geese in the fields but he also has a couple of waterfowl impoundments. The best part though, is that he has been managing the property for ducks and geese for 25 years and out of that 25 years, he has hunted it once! Essentially he has his very own private managed wildlife refuge. He said that he used to be a wildlife officer and felt that since he does hunt ducks elsewhere, that he should give them a place to rest on his property.

I'm going back over there in a couple days once his brother gets back from Atlanta to talk to them about access to the impoundments. He said no problem with the fields but I would need to speak with his brother about the duck pond. This guy is sitting on a gold mine!

[themadduck]

Sounds like he IS sitting on gold!. Only problem is,most of the impoundments are locked up solid with ice and the ducks have moved elsewhere. Hopefully,when things thaw out later this week,they will return.
I talked with a guy that guides hunting trips on Pamlico sound and he says most of Mattamuskeet's ducks are on the sound right now.

[jlphoto]

I can concur about Mattamuskeet. Not a lot of ducks because of the freeze right now. There are still thousands there, but not like they should be.

Only half of the impounment that I could see was frozen on the guys property. Still a couple thousand in the pond and plenty in the fields.

The ducks around here haven't left because of the cold. We have the ocean and gulf stream sitting right next to us. This is just one big thermal mass that radiates heat. Sure its cold, and ice is all over the place . . . but the closer to the coast you get, the less ice. I was at Pea Island this morning, and numbers havn't changed. The Pamlico, Albermarle, and much of the Currituck are ice free. For us, we begin to pull out of this mess tomorrow. Temps in the 50s by thurs/fri.

[themadduck]

I'm sure as soon as the thaw happens, the Mattamuskeet area is gonna get all it's ducks back. Theres too much food there to ignore :D
I was out on Albemarle sound on Saturday and there weren't many ducks where I was,but, I know of a place that is holding 30-50K (or more) Scaup. It's hard to get close enough for a photo though. :(

[jlphoto]

Ill be out and about today so I'll post a thaw update later.

[jcastellow]

Jared,

Saw this post a little late, but I'd be interested in working out some time for a trip into this area, including Lake Matta... I'd also be interested in whatever info you can give me regarding the Lake, since I've never been in that area.

Jim Castellow

[bucklermark]

Jim,
Contact me directly and I am happy to give you some information. I have spent a considerable amount of time at Pocosin and Mattamuskeet over the past three weeks. It may have been noted above, but Pocosin has had to close additional refuge roads this winter due to disturbance by photographers.

Mark
252-599-6275

[jlphoto]

Jim,
sorry about missing this post the last few days. I too have been at Poccosin for the last couple of weeks leading workshops. Since we have been back and forth from Poccosin photographing swans to Carova photographing wild horses, I have had little opportunity to get online.

When are you thinking about coming down. Things are changing fast at Poccosin right now. There is still plenty of corn in the fields for the swans and geese to feed on but they have been gorging themselves like crazy. This is typical pre-migration behavior we are seeing right now, and with the full moon only days away its got a few of us worried that the birds are going to be jumping early this year.

Typically these birds migrate out by the full moon in Feb or early March, and spend a good week or more feeding hard before hand. We were sitting in a impoundment the other day working the swans when we noticed a massive line of geese several thousand feet up heading north.

Birds jump around of course but when you see the lines up so high, this means this is a migratory flight.

If you come soon, I would concentrate all my efforts at Poccosin and skip Mattamuskeet completely. We spent a full week in the field scouting both refuges before the workshops so we would know exactly what the birds were doing. From about 70,000 swans in December at Lake M, the numbers have dropped down to only a couple thousand.

Lake Mattamuskeet is all about pair bonding for swans as this is the only time that they congregate in massive numbers. Once mate selection is completed they begin to move out to the surrounding areas to build up fat supplies for the coming migration north.

Since the big draw at Poccosin is the grain fields, this is where many of the birds have moved to.

The field behind the maintenance shed has been pretty nice for finding a couple thousand swans the last 4 days as they finish off the last of the corn and winter wheat there. Other swans are staying on Jones Pond finishing up the wild celery in there, while several thousand others are moving out onto the surrounding farms such as that owned by Bugger Harris.

Talking with Wendy, the refuge biologist, she agrees that numbers are dwindling fast right now.

The geese are still there in full force, but you have to understand something - snow geese are the schizophrenics of the bird world. They will typically work a field for 2 to 3 days and then move to another. These birds are roosting on both Pungo Lake and Jones Pond right now and there are still around 70-80,000 of them in the area. If you get to the refuge before dawn and sit at the edge of the back field you can watch where they will go that day. These geese move like clock work and you can set your watch to their morning routine. At 7:20 they will be lifting of the lake and you will start to see line after line rise up over the lake. These birds roost on the North side of the lake so keep your eyes open that way.

Watch the birds and see where they go. If they stay on the refuge there are one of two places they will be. Either in the field behind the maitnance shed, or the field along North Lake Road. Both fields are off limits for access but you can work the road along the one at the shed. The North Lake Road is only accessible on Sat or Sun from dawn until noon if you dont have a special use permit. The refuge gives out only 3 permits a day so if you want to get down there make sure to call in advance.

If you do go down that road for geese, you should go in before sunrise (this is why you scout to know where the birds were the day before). Just beware, you WILL SEE BLACK BEARS on this road. Its a given. In fact, we call the road bear road for this reason. This is also the only place I have seen wild red wolves so keep your eyes out for those as well.

These birds however have been spending a considerable amount of time off the refuge the last few days.

Feel free to give me a ring if you want more specific information. Like I said, Ive been out there every day for the past 2 weeks and I'm more than happy to share whats going on.

Jared
757-377-4662

[jlphoto]

Mark, you said you were at Poccosin the last three weeks. . . strange I didn't see you out there.

[themadduck]

Any new info on Pocossin? I think Boykinsbuddy and I may be there next weekend