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Sweet Spots: Great Salt Pond

The Great Salt Pond is another huge pond on the island that has a rich historical heritage as a center of the salt industry. There are a number of areas to access this pond for birding, including the sand fill areas that ring much of the pond. Some of my favorite areas are in the southeastern part of the pond where the remains of salt pans provide a resting place for many birds and a nesting area for some, like the black necked stilt.

A wide variety of waterfowl can be seen at the Great Salt Pond, although there aren’t large mudflat areas that are favored by many shorebirds. The pond does tend to have many egrets, herons and ducks. Seabirds, including gulls, pelicans and frigates also forage on this pond. Like the pond in Grand Case, no matter what time of day, there is always some accessible part of the Great Salt Pond with good lighting. The many drainage ditches surrounding the pond can also be great spots to find and photograph birds.

On Saturday, October 11th from 9am-Noon, the Great Salt Pond will be the location for the 2014 Migratory Bird Festival, which will be held at the University of St. Martin. This event is free and open to all. There is more information on this website and on Facebook.

Here are some shots from this location:

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