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Bird

Northern Pintail

Anas acuta

A winter visitor to North Carolina, found in all 100 counties and 10 habitats.

Here
Winter and on migration
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 100 counties
Habitats
10

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Winter and on migration
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 100 counties
Habitats
10
Habitat models
Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in North Carolina 10

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

1 of 10

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 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

Pocosins and bay forests

Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin

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 500 m of water.Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay; Disturbed/Successional - Grass/Forb Regeneration; Utility Swath - Herbaceous; 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 (34)

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.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Seep 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.
  • South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Winter.
  • Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Winter.
  • Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Winter, only within 500 m of water.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Nepheline Syenite Glade Winter, only within 500 m of water.
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 (16)
  • 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.
  • Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Winter, only within 500 m of water.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
  • Recently Burned Winter, only within 500 m of water.
  • Recently Burned Forest Winter, only within 500 m of water.
  • Recently Burned Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
  • Recently Logged Areas Winter, only within 500 m of water.
  • 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 78 of 100 counties.
  • Winter: does not nest here, in 34 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 242

Plant genera in its diet records (13)
  • Oryza Seeds. 3 diet records. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Cyperus Seeds. 2 diet records. 35 native plants in North Carolina
  • Heteranthera Seeds. 2 diet records. 3 native plants in North Carolina
  • Najas Seeds. 2 diet records. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Schoenoplectus Seeds. 2 diet records. 6 native plants in North Carolina
  • Ammannia Seeds. 1 diet record. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Carex Seeds. 1 diet record. 148 native plants in North Carolina
  • Hippuris Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Juncus Seeds. 1 diet record. 29 native plants in North Carolina
  • Musa Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Polygonum Seeds. 1 diet record. 5 native plants in North Carolina
  • Potamogeton Roots. 1 diet record. 11 native plants in North Carolina
  • Zannichellia Seeds. 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

Coastal dunes and beaches

Birds 112

Plants 132

All of coastal dunes and beaches in North Carolina

Depression ponds and limesinks

Birds 71

Plants 123

All of depression ponds and limesinks in North Carolina

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources