Field and Swamp: Animals and Their Habitats

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Fort Fisher State Recreational Area

Located at the southern tip of New Hanover County, NC, this area offers a beach, an aquarium, and the Basin Trail, which extends west through a marshy and brushy area to the banks of the Cape Fear River. To read more at this place, visit the website of Fort Fisher State Recreational Area, New Hanover County, NC.

Fort Fisher, New Hanover County, NC 5/12/10


Firewheels	Maybe Daisy Fleabane, but the petals are suspiciously purple.

3/9/10


Dung beetle (Copris fricator)	Hop Clover (Trifolium genus). This is a composite of maybe twenty typical pea family flowers.	A group of hop clover plants. These plants were ubiquitous in grass.	Maybe a Common Vetch

Rock Slater (Ligia genus), a kind of crustacean. This one had wandered just off the sand. Common Dandelion. You can see the reproductive parts of the many individual flowers. Henbit

10/15/09


Carolina Mantis, on boardwalk	Another Carolina Mantis, with prey	Gulf Fritillary	Common Buckeye	Question Mark


Leaffooted bug nymphs. They were moving very fast, looked like fire ants at first.	Leaffooted bug nymph with the beginnings of black wing pads	Two leaffooted bug nymphs, representing two instars	Two leaffooted bug nymphs on another plant, moving very little. More little black wing pads.


Male Sand Fiddler Crab (Uca pugilator)	Monarch butterfly	Leafcutter bee (Megachilidae family)


Carolina Saddlebags	Eastern Mud Turtle, about 2 inches long

3/8/09


Red-headed Woodpecker, near Visitor Center, 3/8

1/7/08


Red-winged Blackbird	European Starlings, non-breeding adults	Great Blue Heron

12/2/07


Tricolored Heron	Willet	Immature Great Black-backed Gull, according to Jeff Pippen. According to Sibley (2003), it was in its first winter.


Fruit flies (Senopterina genus), Ft. Fisher Recreational Area, New Hanover County, NC, 6/22/06. Note the black triangles on the otherwise translucent wings.	Robber Fly (Efferia albibarbis), Fort Fisher Basin Trail, New Hanover County, NC, 6/22/06	Crablike Spiny Orb Weaver, Fort Fisher Basin Trail, New Hanover County, NC, 6/22/06


Cicada nymph skin, discarded by adult cicada. Ft. Fisher Basin Trail, New Hanover County, NC, 6/22/06	Female Yellow-and-Black Argiope, Fort Fisher, New Hanover County, NC, 6/22/06	Red-banded Hairstreak, Ft. Fisher Recreational Area, New Hanover County, NC, 6/22/06


Here is a butterfly in the same genus as the Monarch: the Queen (Danaus gilippus). But what a difference! No black veins on this side, just a sprinkling of white spots. The Queen, despite its similarities, doesn't share the Monarch's toughness and is rare here outside the extreme South. I found this one on the nature trail at Fort Fisher State Recreational Area, New Hanover County, NC.	From this side, the same Queen looks a lot more like a Monarch. But note that both wings are the same medium brown, and the white spots are more widely scattered.


Male Needham's Skimmer (Libellula needhami), Fort Fisher, 7/16/04. About five of these red dragonflies showed up together at the beginning of the Basin Trail, but I've never seen any of this species before or since. Randy Emmitt and Josh Rose provided this ID.	This female Needham's Skinner was flying all around the Ft. Fisher Basin Trail on 10/18/05, but never landed.


Great Egret (Ardea alba), Fort Fisher Basin Trail, NC, 9/29/04.	White Ibis, Fort Fisher State Recreational Area, New Hanover County, NC, 12/20/06	American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), Ft. Fisher State Recreational Area, New Hanover County, NC, 12/19/06. ID thanks to Ritch Lilly.


11/17/04 Fort Fisher Basin Trail, New Hanover County, NC	Ft. Fisher Basin Trail, 10/18/05.	Same place and day.


Rock Slater (Ligia genus), a kind of crustacean. This one had wandered just off the sand.	Common Dandelion. You can see the reproductive parts of the many individual flowers.	Henbit