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Bird

Gadwall

Anas strepera

A winter visitor to North Carolina, found in all 100 counties and 11 habitats.

Here
Winter and on migration
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 100 counties
Habitats
11

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Winter and on migration
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 100 counties
Habitats
11
Habitat models
Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in North Carolina 11

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

1 of 11

Floodplain and bottomland forests

fallen (uprooted) tree
WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems; 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.

Freshwater marshes

Georgia pond and emergent wetland
WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland SystemsRegional / 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.

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 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 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

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)

Wet meadows

Open, wet, grassy or sedgy ground that is not a bog.

WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems
Other habitats in its models (17)

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 (9)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore 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.
  • Red River Large Floodplain Forest Winter.
  • South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
  • South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Winter.
Northeast (1)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
Land cover and other classes (7)
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
  • Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest 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 40 of 100 counties.
  • Winter: does not nest here, in 71 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 128

Plant genera in its diet records (19)
  • Ruppia Leaves. 4 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Cyperus Seeds. 3 diet records. 35 native plants in North Carolina
  • Eleocharis Leaves. 3 diet records. 28 native plants in North Carolina
  • Distichlis Leaves. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Lachnanthes Seeds and roots. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Scirpus 2 diet records. 10 native plants in North Carolina
  • Bolboschoenus Seeds. 1 diet record. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Ceratophyllum Leaves. 1 diet record. 3 native plants in North Carolina
  • Chara Leaves. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Echinochloa 1 diet record. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Lemna Leaves. 1 diet record. 7 native plants in North Carolina
  • Leptochloa Leaves. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Myriophyllum Leaves. 1 diet record. 4 native plants in North Carolina
  • Nyssa 1 diet record. 3 native plants in North Carolina
  • Panicum Seeds. 1 diet record. 5 native plants in North Carolina
  • Persicaria Seeds. 1 diet record. 13 native plants in North Carolina
  • Potamogeton Leaves. 1 diet record. 11 native plants in North Carolina
  • Stuckenia 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.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Birds 112

Plants 132

All of coastal dunes and beaches in North Carolina

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Birds 120

Plants 23

All of disturbed and introduced wetlands in North Carolina

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Birds 70

Plants 367

All of floodplain and bottomland forests in North Carolina

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources