Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park—located in Scotland Neck, North Carolina—is offering a “new membership package just for photographers. When you buy a Photographer’s Membership, you’ll receive free admission to Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park for one year, as well as free admission to the North Carolina Zoo, all three NC Aquariums and the WNC Nature Center.” With this membership, you can tour North Carolina from the coast to the mountains (or from the mountains to the coast) and visit the various aquariums, nature center, and zoological parks.  Furthermore, the “Photographer’s Membership” allows members to “make arrangements to visit the park an hour before it opens to the public and/or stay an hour after park closing!”  These are the best times to view the waterfowl, since they’re most active during these times.

The Waterfowl Park offers a unique opportunity to get close to and observe “over 180 species of birds– more than half of the world’s known species of ducks, geese and swans.” Here are some images I took at Sylvan Heights Waterfowl, while I was a volunteer.  The first three images show some juvenile African white-backed ducks (Thalassornis leuconotus) and the last four are of a white-faced whistling duck (Dendrocygna viduata).

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