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Bird

American Wigeon

Anas americana

A winter visitor to North Carolina, found in all 100 counties and 8 habitats.

Here
Winter and on migration
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 100 counties
Habitats
8

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Winter and on migration
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 100 counties
Habitats
8
Habitat models
Winter

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in North Carolina 8

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 8

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Georgia pond and emergent wetland
WinterOpen Water (Fresh); Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural LakeshoreRegional / representative. Shown: Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia; representative pond ecosystem, a neighboring state.Georgia pond and emergent wetland, Robert 'Bob' Hynes, 1997. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)

Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.

Winter

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland; Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.

Winter

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh

Sounds, bays and tidal flats

Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.

WinterOpen Water (Brackish/Salt)

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Black Mountainlabel QS:Len,"Black Mountain"
WinterOnly within 60 m of water.Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay; Disturbed/Successional - Grass/Forb Regeneration; Ruderal Upland - Old FieldLyell Carr, Black Mountain: a pasture and hayfield with a log barn, rail fence and grazing cow below the Black Mountains. Black Mountain, North Carolina (Lyell E. Carr)Black Mountainlabel QS:Len,"Black Mountain", Lyell Carr, c. 1890-1912. Public domain. Source record.
Other habitats in its models (21)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in North Carolina. Those recorded in North Carolina first, the rest by region.

Elsewhere in the South (11)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
  • Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
  • South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Winter.
  • Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Winter.
Northeast (2)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Winter.
Land cover and other classes (8)
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
  • Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Winter.
  • Open Water (Aquaculture) Winter.
  • South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
  • Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.

All habitats

Seasons in North Carolina

  • Migratory: does not nest here, in 75 of 100 counties.
  • Winter: does not nest here, in 39 of 100 counties.

Food plants

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Plants matched by genus.

Native plants in these genera 308

Plant genera in its diet records (30)
  • Myriophyllum Seeds and leaves. 5 diet records. 4 native plants in North Carolina
  • Ranunculus Seeds and leaves. 4 diet records. 13 native plants in North Carolina
  • Stuckenia Seeds and leaves. 4 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Zostera Leaves and roots. 4 diet records. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Triticum Seeds. 3 diet records. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Chenopodium Seeds. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Eleocharis Seeds. 2 diet records. 28 native plants in North Carolina
  • Lachnanthes Seeds and roots. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Najas 2 diet records. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Ruppia 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Trifolium Leaves. 2 diet records. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Zea Seeds. 2 diet records. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Callitriche Leaves. 1 diet record. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Carex 1 diet record. 148 native plants in North Carolina
  • Chara 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Cladophora 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Cyperus Seeds. 1 diet record. 35 native plants in North Carolina
  • Echinochloa Seeds. 1 diet record. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Hordeum Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Lemna Leaves. 1 diet record. 7 native plants in North Carolina
  • Persicaria 1 diet record. 13 native plants in North Carolina
  • Polygonum Seeds. 1 diet record. 5 native plants in North Carolina
  • Potamogeton 1 diet record. 11 native plants in North Carolina
  • Sagittaria Seeds. 1 diet record. 13 native plants in North Carolina
  • Salicornia Seeds. 1 diet record. 3 native plants in North Carolina
  • Scirpus Seeds. 1 diet record. 10 native plants in North Carolina
  • Typha 1 diet record. 3 native plants in North Carolina
  • Ulva 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Vallisneria Leaves. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Zannichellia Leaves. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in North Carolina

Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab), CC0 1.0.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in North Carolina, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Birds 89

Plants 1314

All of roadsides, fields and disturbed ground in North Carolina

Depression ponds and limesinks

Birds 71

Plants 123

All of depression ponds and limesinks in North Carolina

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Birds 120

Plants 23

All of disturbed and introduced wetlands in North Carolina

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources