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Bird

Ring-necked Duck

Aythya collaris

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

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

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Winter
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
WinterSouth-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; 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 Small Stream and Riparian; 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.

Streams, rivers and their banks

Drawing, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina, 1865–70
WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; South-Central Interior Small Stream and RiparianFrederic Edwin Church, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina (1865-70): a boulder-strewn mountain river under autumn-coloured ridges. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. North Carolina mountains (Frederic Edwin Church, oil sketch 1865-70; Cooper Hewitt)Drawing, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina, 1865–70, Frederic Edwin Church, 1865-1870. Public domain. Source record.

Swamps

View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina
WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; 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

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

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)

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 (46)

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 (33)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
  • East-Central Texas Plains Floodplain Forest Winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Winter, only within 120 m of water.
  • Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Winter.
  • Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Winter.
  • Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Red River Large Floodplain Forest Winter.
  • South Florida Bayhead Swamp Winter.
  • South Florida Cypress Dome Winter.
  • South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
  • South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Winter.
  • South Florida Mangrove Swamp Winter.
  • South Florida Pine Flatwoods Winter, only within 120 m of water.
  • South Florida Wet Marl Prairie 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.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress Dome Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods Winter, only within 120 m of water.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Winter.
Northeast (4)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Winter.
  • North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Winter.
  • Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Winter.
Land cover and other classes (9)
  • Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Winter.
  • Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.

All habitats

Seasons in North Carolina

  • Winter: does not nest here, in all 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 187

Plant genera in its diet records (28)
  • Cyperus Seeds and roots. 6 diet records. 35 native plants in North Carolina
  • Scirpus Seeds. 6 diet records. 10 native plants in North Carolina
  • Eleocharis 5 diet records. 28 native plants in North Carolina
  • Potamogeton Seeds. 5 diet records. 11 native plants in North Carolina
  • Ceratophyllum Seeds. 4 diet records. 3 native plants in North Carolina
  • Lachnanthes Seeds and roots. 4 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Myriophyllum Seeds. 4 diet records. 4 native plants in North Carolina
  • Polygonum Seeds. 4 diet records. 5 native plants in North Carolina
  • Chara Other parts. 3 diet records. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Echinochloa Seeds. 3 diet records. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Phalaris Seeds. 3 diet records. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Bolboschoenus Seeds. 2 diet records. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Brasenia 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Nymphaea Seeds. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Panicum Seeds. 2 diet records. 5 native plants in North Carolina
  • Persicaria Seeds. 2 diet records. 13 native plants in North Carolina
  • Pinus 2 diet records. 8 native plants in North Carolina
  • Ruppia 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Sparganium Seeds. 2 diet records. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Stuckenia Roots. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Zea Seeds. 2 diet records. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Boehmeria 1 diet record. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Chenopodium Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Hypericum 1 diet record. 27 native plants in North Carolina
  • Lemna Leaves. 1 diet record. 7 native plants in North Carolina
  • Leptochloa Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Morella 1 diet record. 3 native plants in North Carolina
  • Sagittaria Roots. 1 diet record. 13 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