Bird
Blue-winged Teal
Anas discors
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
- Summer, 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.
Floodplain and bottomland forests


Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
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.
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.
Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.
Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.
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.
Other habitats in its models (28)
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 (14)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Summer and winter.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Winter.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer and winter.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
Northeast (3)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer.
Land cover and other classes (11)
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer and winter.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.
- Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
Seasons in North Carolina
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 96 of 100 counties.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 21 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 163
- Appalachian Woodland SedgeCarex austrolucorum
- Gator SedgeCarex gator
- Great Smoky Mountain SedgeCarex fumosimontana
- Silvery SedgeCarex disjuncta
- Broadleaf SedgeCarex platyphylla
- James's SedgeCarex jamesii
- Longstalk SedgeCarex pedunculata
- Plantainleaf SedgeCarex plantaginea
- Rich-woods SedgeCarex oligocarpa
- Spreading SedgeCarex laxiculmis
- Allegheny SedgeCarex allegheniensis
- Appalachian SedgeCarex appalachica
- Awl-fruit SedgeCarex stipata
- Bailey's SedgeCarex baileyi
- Barratt's SedgeCarex barrattii
- Beaked SedgeCarex utriculata
- Bent SedgeCarex styloflexa
- Biltmore SedgeCarex biltmoreana
- Black-edge SedgeCarex nigromarginata
- Bladder SedgeCarex intumescens
- Blister SedgeCarex vesicaria
- Blue SedgeCarex glaucodea
- Blue Wood SedgeCarex flaccosperma
- Blunt Broom SedgeCarex tribuloides
Plant genera in its diet records (4)
- Carex Seeds. 1 diet record. 148 native plants in North Carolina
- Echinochloa Seeds. 1 diet record. 2 native plants in North Carolina
- Persicaria 1 diet record. 13 native plants in North Carolina
- Zea Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
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.
Coastal dunes and beaches
Birds 112
- DovekieAlle alle
- Horned LarkEremophila alpestris
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Short-billed DowitcherLimnodromus griseus
- Wilson's PloverCharadrius wilsonia
- Great Black-backed GullLarus marinus
- Purple SandpiperCalidris maritima
- Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus caudacutus
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
- Wilson's WarblerWilsonia pusilla
- Field SparrowSpizella pusilla
Plants 132
- Maritime ThoroughwortEupatorium maritimum
- Beach Morning-gloryIpomoea imperati
- Railroad VineIpomoea brasiliensis
- Seabeach KnotweedPolygonum glaucum
- Northern BayberryMorella pensylvanica
- Seabeach AmaranthAmaranthus pumilus
- Northern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia polygonifolia
- Southern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia bombensis
- Mound-lily YuccaYucca gloriosa
- Northern Seabeach OrachAtriplex mucronata
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Dune BluecurlsTrichostema nesophilum
Depression ponds and limesinks
Birds 71
- Black-bellied PloverPluvialis squatarola
- Lapland LongspurCalcarius lapponicus
- Le Conte's SparrowAmmodramus leconteii
- Purple MartinProgne subis
- Western SandpiperCalidris mauri
- BrantBranta bernicla
- Nelson's Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus nelsoni
- Yellow RailCoturnicops noveboracensis
- Black RailLaterallus jamaicensis
- Long-billed CurlewNumenius americanus
- Red-necked GrebePodiceps grisegena
- American WigeonAnas americana
Plants 123
- Bay BonesetEupatorium paludicola
- False FennelEupatorium leptophyllum
- Hairy SmartweedPersicaria hirsuta
- Shrubby SeedboxLudwigia suffruticosa
- Hirst's WitchgrassDichanthelium hirstii
- Coastal BeaksedgeRhynchospora pleiantha
- Grooved BeaksedgeRhynchospora sulcata
- Harper's BeaksedgeRhynchospora harperi
- Narrow-fruit Horned BeaksedgeRhynchospora inundata
- Tracy's BeaksedgeRhynchospora tracyi
- Slender Water-milfoilMyriophyllum tenellum
- Tall Pinebarren MilkwortSenega cymosa
Freshwater tidal marshes
Birds 81
- Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus caudacutus
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
- Le Conte's SparrowAmmodramus leconteii
- Purple MartinProgne subis
- Red KnotCalidris canutus
- BrantBranta bernicla
- Piping PloverCharadrius melodus
- American White PelicanPelecanus erythrorhynchos
- KilldeerCharadrius vociferus
- Nelson's Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus nelsoni
- Yellow RailCoturnicops noveboracensis
- Black RailLaterallus jamaicensis
Plants 30
- Saltmarsh Water-hempAmaranthus cannabinus
- Seashore MallowKosteletzkya pentacarpos
- Carolina BishopweedPtilimnium ahlesii
- Riverbank Evening-primroseOenothera riparia
- Long's BittercressCardamine longii
- Coastal Water-hyssopBacopa monnieri
- Beaked SpikerushEleocharis rostellata
- American ReedPhragmites americanus
- Godfrey's SandwortSabulina paludicola
- Eastern GrasswortLilaeopsis chinensis
- Hairypod CowpeaVigna luteola
- Bushy SeedboxLudwigia alternifolia
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Blue-winged Teal
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)
- Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab) (CC0 1.0), diet records by plant genus
























































