Sunsets

Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge is located on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula in Hyde County, North Carolina. Established in 1934, the 50,180-acre Refuge consists of open water, marsh, forest and croplands. The centerpiece of the Refuge is the shallow Lake Mattamuskeet. At 40,100 acres, it is North Carolina’s largest natural lake. The Refuge’s strategic location along the Atlantic Flyway makes it a vitally important stopover for wintering waterfowl. Over the past 35 years, up to 80 percent of the Northern Pintail and up to 30 percent of Green-wing Teal that annually migrate along the Flyway utilize Mattamuskeet. In total, the Refuge attracts more than 200,000 ducks, geese and swans from November through February. Photo: Allie Stewart, USFWS. Posted by the US Department of the Interior on Tumblr, 4/27/14.

Photo: Michael DeWitt. He said: “In late December, a friend and I launched a canoe from the pack ice at Meyer’s Beach, gateway to the mainland sea caves in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. We broke skim ice and dodged ice bergs out to the caves, and we were well rewarded for our efforts. I made the image from the canoe, through a port hole as the sun set across Mawikwe Bay.” Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 5/2/14.