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Bird

Wood Duck

Aix sponsa

Lives in North Carolina all year and nests here. Found in all 100 counties, across 14 habitats.

Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 100 counties
Habitats
14

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 100 counties
Habitats
14
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 14

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

1 of 14

Floodplain and bottomland forests

fallen (uprooted) tree
SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; South-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
SummerCentral 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
SummerWinterOpen 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
SummerWinterCentral 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
SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall; Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; Atlantic 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 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.

Summer

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.

SummerWinterAtlantic 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.

SummerWinter

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

SummerWinterAtlantic 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.

SummerWinterAtlantic 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.

Summer

Pocosins and bay forests

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

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin; Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

Seeps and springs

Places where groundwater keeps the soil or rock wet, such as seepage slopes and spring runs.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

Wet meadows

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

SummerCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems
Other habitats in its models (48)

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 (28)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Cumberland Riverscour Summer.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer.
  • East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer.
  • Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Summer.
  • Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Summer, only within 1,000 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.
  • Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Summer and winter.
  • Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Summer and winter.
  • Mississippi River Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer.
  • Red River Large Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
  • South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Flatwoods Summer, only within 1,000 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.
  • South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Summer.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Summer.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress Dome Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer and winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer and winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Summer and winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Summer and winter.
Northeast (3)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer.
  • Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
Land cover and other classes (17)
  • Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
  • Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer.
  • Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
  • South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
  • Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
  • Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in North Carolina

  • Year-round: nests 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 178

Plant genera in its diet records (30)
  • Paspalum Seeds. 4 diet records. 11 native plants in North Carolina
  • Polygonum Seeds. 4 diet records. 5 native plants in North Carolina
  • Aneilema Seeds. 3 diet records. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Brasenia Seeds. 3 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Leersia Seeds. 3 diet records. 4 native plants in North Carolina
  • Panicum Seeds. 3 diet records. 5 native plants in North Carolina
  • Potamogeton Leaves. 3 diet records. 11 native plants in North Carolina
  • Vitis Seeds. 3 diet records. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Bidens Seeds. 2 diet records. 11 native plants in North Carolina
  • Echinochloa Seeds. 2 diet records. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Liquidambar Seeds. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Nymphaea Seeds. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Quercus Seeds. 2 diet records. 31 native plants in North Carolina
  • Rubus Fruit. 2 diet records. 11 native plants in North Carolina
  • Sagittaria Roots. 2 diet records. 13 native plants in North Carolina
  • Scleria Seeds. 2 diet records. 11 native plants in North Carolina
  • Spirodela Leaves. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Taxodium Seeds. 2 diet records. 2 native plants in North Carolina
  • Acer Seeds. 1 diet record. 9 native plants in North Carolina
  • Boehmeria Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Cephalanthus Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Forestiera Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Glycine Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in North Carolina
  • Lemna Seeds. 1 diet record. 7 native plants in North Carolina
  • Ludwigia Seeds. 1 diet record. 20 native plants in North Carolina
  • Planera Fruit. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Sassafras Seeds. 1 diet record. 1 native plant in North Carolina
  • Triadenum Seeds. 1 diet record. 3 native plants in North Carolina
  • Ulmus Seeds. 1 diet record. 4 native plants in North Carolina
  • Viburnum Seeds. 1 diet record. 8 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

Depression ponds and limesinks

Birds 71

Plants 123

All of depression ponds and limesinks in North Carolina

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources