Fish and Wildlife Service, the refuge boasts ocean 

 beaches, barrier dunes, salt marshes, creeks and bays; 

 25,700 acres of the Pamlico Sound; and three con- 

 structed freshwater and brackish water ponds. Amongst 

 the marsh grasses, wax myrtles, live oaks, salt flats, 

 coastal waters and dunes, more than 300 species of birds 

 rest, nest or feed. And more than 1 .2 million people visit 

 each year to watch them. □ 



7. Snow geese coast against a winter sunset at Pea Island. 

 Although both varieties of snow geese (greater and lesser) 

 are found at the refuge, all greater North American snow geese 

 follow a strict migratory route — straight down the eastern 

 corridor of the United States. The largest number of them 

 winter in the Pea Island area. 



8. On a frozen tidal creek, these black ducks might not have 

 any luck in their search for submerged plants, snails, 

 crustaceans or insect larvae. Black ducks aren't black — 

 they're really a deep chocolate-brown. 



9. Puddle ducks are some of the most prominent members 

 within the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge community. 

 Two of the most common duck species in North America — 

 the pintail and the mallard — are puddle ducks. 

 Puddle ducks feed by dipping in the water, nipping and tugging 

 at the seeds, roots and stems of underwater plants. 

 Here, pintails, green-winged teals, a shoveler and a mallard 

 splash in the shallow waters of North Pond. 

 Of the three brackish and freshwater impoundments of 

 the refuge (South Pond, North Pond and Newfield), 

 only North Pond is accessible to the public through a walking 

 trail and a mowed path that sweeps around the pond. 



8 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1995 



