North Carolina county #51 Edenton Fish Hatchery
Friday morning I got up early and went over to the Edenton Fish Hatchery, which opens at 7am.
It consists of a bunch of those rectangular man-made ponds, and is open to the public, along with a small aquarium that shows the fish they work with. It is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the fish are used to stock local streams and lakes. There is a good chance of finding some shorebirds here, but I struck out on that count. I did spot a Green Heron flying overhead and got this nice shot of a Great Blue Heron landing in a tree.
There were a bunch of Canada Geese and also a group of Chimney Swifts and Sparrows flying around. I keep trying to get a good shot of a sparrow in flight but they are so darn fast it is hard to nail focus on them.
One of these days I will get the perfect photo of one of them.
You can meander around the ponds for a while and then at the far end there is a short boardwalk with views of Pembroke Creek.
There was also a very strange bird there that I figured was a young rooster. It had me excited for a couple of minutes until I realized what it was.
This stop is great for a quick check and you could bring the kids to look at the fish in the aquarium also.
ebird checklist
