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Course Detail: LLPPOCOSINS - Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and Pungo Lake Guided Tour| Tundra Swan Migration
A wintertime visit to Pocosin Lakes and Pungo Lake is a magical experience during the migratory season. This tour will explore vast open spaces and cypress-ringed lakes filled with birds and wildlife, with the calls of thousands of tundra swans and snow geese. Birders and wildlife viewers will delight in seeing rare species such as Short-eared Owls or Red Wolves.
Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) conserves one of the country's largest wetland restoration projects - a rare type of wetland habitat, known as "pocosin," derived from a Native American word meaning "swamp on a hill." The refuge encompasses vast acres of natural wetlands, including unique peat wetlands, open lake water, upland pine forests, and managed agricultural units that provide high-energy food for waterfowl. More than a hundred thousand ducks, geese, and swans congregate on the refuge in winter, and the refuge supports one of the densest populations of black bear ever reported.
*This tour will include a bus ride to the two lakes, you will be able to step off the bus take pictures and enjoy the swans and other migratory birds in their natural habitat. These are natural habitat locations, please be mindful- the terrain may not be dry, level-ground. Our tour bus will have a bathroom, however the NWR does not have restroom facilities."
After a morning tour viewing these majestic creatures in their natural habitat, we will take a short drive to Belhaven to enjoy lunch at a local restaurant before returning to campus.
Bring a camera, waterproof shoes, a jacket, hat, and gloves.
Trip Itinerary
7:00 am Meet at the ECU Willis Building
7:15 am Depart for Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
8:15 am Bus Tour on the NWR
12:15 pm Depart for Belhaven
12:30 pm Lunch on own
1:30 pm Depart for ECU Willis Building
2:30 pm Arrive at the ECU Willis Building
Visit the Park Website: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/pocosin-lakes