TROSPER POND
© 2003 Dennis Burnette 

Trosper Pond is a private pond in a residential neighborhood near the Lake Brandt Marina. Guilford County birders often check the pond while birding around Lake Brandt, and it is worth a trip in late fall and winter even if the marina is closed.
            To reach Trosper Pond from the city of Greensboro, go north on Lake Brandt Road from the intersection of Lawndale Avenue about a mile to Trosper Road and turn right (east). From Lake Brandt marina, go south 0.4 mile to Trosper Road and turn left (east). At the end of this short 0.7 mile street, the road circles the pond.
            There are vantage points on the east and the west ends of the loop from which the pond and water edges may be viewed. With care, one can pull over well to the side of the road and see most of the pond from the car. However, remember that this is a residential area and the lake is private property, so don’t block the road and don’t park on residents’ lawns. Birders are usually welcome and we want to keep it that way.
            Local residents have introduced Mute Swans, Muscovy Ducks and white domestic ducks from time to time throughout the years. It is the naturally occurring native species that usually interest birders, though, and visitors rarely are disappointed, especially in late fall and winter. This pond is the most reliable place in the area to sees Buffleheads, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, which arrive early in November and stay all winter. Sprinkled among them often are Pied-billed Grebes.
            Artificial nest boxes and feeding by lakeside residents serves to support a sizable number of Wood Ducks, which apparently attract others of their species from time to time.  (A flock of seventeen was seen one snowy winter morning.)  Sometimes Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, and occasional widgeons all crowd into this little pond. A careful observer usually can turn up a Great Blue Heron and sometimes a Green Heron along the edges of the pond.  Semi-permanent populations of Canada Geese and Mallards are usually around even when nothing else can be seen on Trosper Pond.
            It isn’t clear why this particular pond is so attractive to waterfowl; possibly it may be due to some unusual bottom configuration, although it remains unseen. Whatever the cause, some good birds have turned up over the years. For two winters in a row there was a Tundra Swan in residence, and one year there was a wayward pair of Ross’s Geese around for several weeks.
          After looking over Trosper Pond, return to Lake Brandt Road. Turn left (south) to return to the city of Greensboro, or turn right (north) to continue birding around the Greensboro lakes. To continue birding, the next convenient site is the Lake Brandt Marina or Plainfield Marsh,