Willow Pond is part of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harker's Island.
Here's a slide show about the pond, how it used to be, how it was more or less destroyed, and how it was brought back:
There's a flock of American white ibis that hang out just to the left of and across from the blind that has been set up for bird watching and photography. Every time we've been to Willow Pond, the ibis have been there. There's no shortage of egrets, herons, blue herons, little blue herons, gulls, and other birds, including, of course, the usual selection of ducks and geese. Some of these are seasonal depending on migratory habits.
Willow Pond is almost at the eastern end of Harker's Island. The only thing further down the road than Willow Pond and the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum is the Cape Lookout National Seashore visitors' center.
There's a set of trails, short ones, around the pond. You can pick up the trail by going out the back door of either the museum or the visitors' center.
The museum also has a Facebook page.
Our gallery of Willow Pond photos, including some shots of a Little Blue Heron, is up here:
Mike and Leece's image galleries
under the Eastern North Carolina June 2011 heading.
