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Bird

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Aythya valisineria

A winter visitor to North Carolina, found in all 100 counties and 12 habitats.

Here
Winter and on migration
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 100 counties
Habitats
12

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Winter and on migration
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 100 counties
Habitats
12
Habitat models
Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in North Carolina 12

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

1 of 12

Floodplain and bottomland forests

fallen (uprooted) tree
WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest; South-Central Interior Large FloodplainNamed place / source context. Shown: Congaree Swamp National Monument floodplain forest, South Carolina; representative illustration, no exact viewpoint, a neighboring state.fallen (uprooted) tree, John Dawson, by1988. Public domain. Source record.

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.

Swamps

View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina
WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier; Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland; Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression SwampNamed place / source context. Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretationView, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.

WinterUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland

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

Hardwood and oak flatwoods

Flat, poorly drained uplands and terraces with oaks, sweetgum and sometimes loblolly pine, wet in winter and dry in summer, but neither a floodplain nor a swamp.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier

Mountain bogs and fens

Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.

Winter

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)
Other habitats in its models (29)

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 (16)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest 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 Winter.
  • Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Winter.
  • Mississippi River Riparian Forest Winter.
  • Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Winter.
Northeast (1)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Winter.
Land cover and other classes (12)
  • Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Winter, only within 30 m of water.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Winter, only within 30 m of water.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
  • Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest 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 56 of 100 counties.
  • Winter: does not nest here, in 56 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 90

Plant genera in its diet records (11)
  • Stuckenia Roots and leaves. 8 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Sagittaria Roots. 5 diet records. 13 native plants in North Carolina
  • Schoenoplectus Seeds and roots. 3 diet records. 6 native plants in North Carolina
  • Potamogeton Seeds. 2 diet records. 11 native plants in North Carolina
  • Vallisneria Flowers and leaves. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Chara Leaves. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Cyperus Roots. 1 diet record. 35 native plants in North Carolina
  • Lemna Leaves. 1 diet record. 7 native plants in North Carolina
  • Polygonum Seeds. 1 diet record. 5 native plants in North Carolina
  • Ruppia 1 diet record. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Scirpus Seeds. 1 diet record. 10 native plants 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.

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Birds 70

Plants 367

All of floodplain and bottomland forests in North Carolina

Swamps

Birds 69

Plants 329

All of swamps in North Carolina

Coastal dunes and beaches

Birds 112

Plants 132

All of coastal dunes and beaches in North Carolina

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources