Field and Swamp: Animals and Their Habitats

Ocracoke Island, Hyde County, NC

Ocracoke Island is mostly park land (the Cape Hatteras National Seashore), but the town of Ocracoke has a lot of interesting wildlife, especially in its new Springer's Point Nature Preserve.  See live map.

Prickly Pears and a Scallop shell.

Ocracoke Island (nearest beach to town), Hyde County, NC  5/26/18

Black Skimmer	Ghost Crab	Laughing Gull	Red Knots	Red Knots in flight

More flying Red Knots	Red Knots seeking mollusks

Red Knots, two in breeding plumage	More Red Knots	Yet more Red Knots	Breeding Sanderling	Juvie Sanderling

Semipalmated Plover	Same Semipalmated Plover

Ocracoke Island (Southpoint), Hyde County, NC  5/25/18

Eastern Mud Turtle	Deer Fly	Grackle	Great Egret	Female Needham's Skimmer

Male Needham's Skimmer?	Female Needham's Skimmer	Teneral Eastern Pondhawk	Red-winged Blackbird	Same Red-winged Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbird

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/25/18

Probably Lanceleaf Fogfruit	Another Lanceleaf Fogfruit	Moon	Shield-backed bug	Cat with bird prey?

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/24/18

Floats	Mourning Dove	Sandwich Tern over North Pond	Same Sandwich Tern	Wharf Crab in a residential neighborhood

Ocracoke Island (nearest public beach), Hyde County, NC  5/23/18

Breeding Black-bellied Plover	Another Black-bellied Plover	Same Black-bellied Plover	Red Knot	Same Red Knot

Breeding Ruddy Turnstone	Same Ruddy Turnstone	Sanderling facing away from the wind	Sanderling, with maybe transitional plumage	Nonbreeding Sanderling

Breeding Sanderling

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/23/18

Male Red-winged Blackbird on a cedar

Springer's Point, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/22/18

Mating Redbelly Water Snakes	Same mating Redbelly Water Snakes	Sandwich Tern	Sandwich Tern

Mystery vine	Cactus (Prickly Pear?)	Another Prickly Pear	Another Prickly Pear	Male Northern Cardinal

Fowler's Toad	Northern Mockingbird

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/22/18

Male Carolina Anole displaying	Tabby cat	Eurasian Collared Dove	Female Needham's Skimmer	White-topped Sedge

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/21/18

Sweat bee (Agapostemon genus) on Firewheel flower	Same sweat bee	Common Starling	Squirrel Treefrog	Sea Oxeye Daisy

Pink Wood-Sorrel	Male House Sparrow	Great Egret	Gray Catbird	Firewheels

Eurasian Collared Dove	Same Eurasian Collared Dove	Flying Double-crested Cormorant	Same Double-crested Cormorant

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/27/17

Variegated Fritillary on White Clover	Squirrel Treefrog (Hyla squirella)	Ladies tresses orchid (Spiranthes genus)	Closer look at the same ladies tresses orchid	Ladies tresses flower from side

Another ladies tresses orchid	Close-up of a Ladies Tresses group of flowers, showing orange and yellow interiors	A group of Ladies Tresses flowers from another plant, showing just a green-yellow interior	Plant bug, seen on building exterior	Same plant bug

Ocracoke Island (near beach), Hyde County, NC  5/27/17

Ruddy Turnstone, nearly in full breeding plumage	Same Ruddy Turnstone	Sanderling in breeding plumage	Another Sanderling in breeding plumage	Same Sanderling

Non-breeding Sanderling	Breeding Willet	Firewheels

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/26/17

Eurasian Collared Dove	Artwork on a house	Fort Ocracoke memorial plaque	Seen at a business	Killdeer

View across the North Pond	Sanderlings flying across the North Pond	Snowy Egret at the North Pond	Sunset	Sunset reflected in a window

Ocracoke Island (north shore), Hyde County, NC  5/26/17

American Oystercatcher	Same American Oystercatcher	Washed-up blowfish	Dredging channels	Eastern Beach Tiger Beetle

Same Eastern Beach Tiger Beetle	Same Eastern Beach Tiger Beetle	Ferry arriving at Silver Lake	Young Ghost Crab	Blooming pennyworts

Sanderling	Another Sanderling	Sandspurs	Seaweed	A view of the shore

Spider wasp (in dunes)

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/25/17

Vine	View of the marsh	Ladies tresses orchid (Spiranthes genus)	Fowler's Toad	Figurine in front yard

Aphid

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/24/17

Male Northern Cardinal	Feral cat (seen at old lighthouse)	Fowler's Toad	Male House Sparrow	Female Mallard

Mandevilla	Salt Marsh Mallow	Male Common Starling in breeding plumage

Ocracoke Island (north shore), Hyde County, NC  5/24/17

Sanderling in breeding plumage	Another Sanderling in non-breeding plumage	Common Tern	Same Common Tern	Same Common Tern

Brackish-water Fiddler Crab	Tiny beetle in the dunes	Damselfly	Ghost Crab

Jellyfish	Royal Tern

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/22/17

A lone Laughing Gull at Silver Lake	The gull issues several cries.	Another view	A second gull arrives.	The courtship ritual begins.

The gull that came looks down.	They're just brushing beaks here.	Now the caller looks up.	Morning glory vine	Mourning Dove taking off.

Male Red-winged Blackbird	Same male Red-winged Blackbird	Sanderling in breeding plumage	Another Sanderling, also in breeding plumage	Juvie Gray Catbird

Barn Swallow	Bike sculpture	Feral cat	Male Eastern Towhee (very early)	Grass flowers

Gray Catbird	Laughing Gulls and Herring Gulls compete for scraps tossed from a nearby restaurant	Male House Sparrow

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/21/17

Eurasian Collared Doves	The USDA calls this a "rattlebox" (Sesbania punicea). It's a kind of locust tree, a member of the pea family (Fabaceae) and is native to South America.  It's considered to be invasive and a noxious weed in Florida and California, but North Carolina's chilly winters keep it in check.	White-topped Sedge flower

Pamlico Sound and Dredge Island, Hyde County, NC  5/21/17

Brown Pelicans on Dredge Island	Another view of Brown Pelicans on Dredge Island	More Brown Pelicans on Dredge Island

Diving tern over Pamlico Sound. Probably a nonbreeding Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)

Swan Quarter, Hyde County, NC  5/21/17

Barn Swallow in flight	Barn Swallow, also in flight	Delaware Skipper	Killdeer	Same Killdeer

Killdeer	Female Needham's Skimmer	Palatka Skipper	Female Seaside Dragonlet	Perhaps teneral female Seaside Dragonlet

Male Seaside Skimmer, nearly adult	Teneral male Seaside Skimmer	Another teneral male Seaside Skimmer	Male Seaside Skimmer, nearly adult	Adult male Seaside Skimmer

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 10/29/16 (seen from the departing ferry)

Cormorants flying south	Dredge Island just before dawn	A better view of Dredge Island, showing pelicans and other birds	A similar view, closer to sunrise	Cormorants flying south

Cormorants flying from Dredge Island toward Ocracoke (south)	The Village of Ocracoke	Dredge Island	Distant cormorants	Harbor House

Egrets	Another view of these egrets

Nature Trail, Ocracoke Island, Hyde County, NC 10/28/16

Male Brackish-water Fiddler Crab standing his ground

Ocracoke Island (north end), Hyde County, NC 10/27/16

Nonbreeding Black-bellied Plover	Another nonbreeding Black-bellied Plover	Probably first-year Piping Plover, which alternated between walking toward me and facing away	Same Piping Plover, which eventually flew around me.

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 10/27/16

Common Starlings	Common Starlings	Double-crested Cormorant	Brown Pelican flying toward setting sun	After sunset

Before sunset	Closer up	Same sunset scene with glare screened out

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 10/26/16

Double-crested Cormorant	Eurasian Collared Dove	Grackle	Mallard ducklings	Mystery bird

Interesting street corner	Fishing mistake

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 10/25/16

Monarch	Yellow-rumped Warbler	Same Yellow-rumped Warbler	Same Yellow-rumped Warbler	Another Yellow-rumped Warbler

Springer's Point Nature Preserve, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 10/25/16

Eastern Phoebe	Northern Mockingbird	Hens	Cooper's Hawk	Raccoon sculpture

Ocracoke Island (north shore), Hyde County, NC 10/24/16

Nonbreeding Black-bellied Plover	Same Black-bellied Plover	Cormorants	Ghost Crab	Grasshopper

Great Black-backed Gull	Flock of Great Black-backed Gulls	Four Black-backed Gulls	The north end, where the effects of the Hurricane Matthew are seen	Yellow-rumped Warbler, one of several nearby

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Hyde County, NC 10/24/16

Yellow-rumped Warbler	Juvie Yellow-rumped Warbler	Yellow-rumped Warbler in a marsh	Another juvie Yellow-rumped Warbler	Female Red-winged Blackbird

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 10/23/16

Double-crested Cormorant	Mallard-American Black Duck hybrid pair	Common flower in the neighborhood	Sunset over Silver Lake	Yellow-rumped Warbler eating berries in a Wax Myrtle bush

Springer's Point Nature Preserve, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 10/23/16

Northern Mockingbird, actually slightly outside the Preserve	Yellow-rumped Warbler	Another Yellow-rumped Warbler	Remains of a horseshoe crab

Dredge Island, Hyde County, NC 10/22/16

Double-crested Cormorants and gulls	A longer view of the Double-crested Cormorants and gulls

Pamlico Sound, Hyde County, NC 10/22/16

Royal Tern	Laughing Gull	Laughing Gulls, with fish prey	Juvenile Brown Pelican landing

Swan Quarter, Hyde County, NC 10/22/16

Blowfly	Midge	Royal Tern about to land	What is the one Royal Tern saying? Flying by are a gull, an adult Royal Tern, and a juvenile.	Interspecies conversation (including Laughing Gull)

Royal Terns and Laughing Gulls, both	A quiet scene, during a rare moment when both Royal Terns were looking in the same direction	Sometimes one Royal Tern bumps another one off its perch. In this case, an adult is the one displaying bad manners, while these two juveniles are still unsuspecting.	Another interesting conversation, perhaps, "You can't land here!"	One perched Royal Tern watches two other terns pass through.

More Royal Tern activity: "Don't even think of landing here!"	You can see who's boss, at least on this piling.	It's interesting to see how Royal Terns wriggle their wings when moved in on.	"Sorry, buddy, but we don't think there's a place for you."	An adult Royal Tern flies by, watched by two juveniles.

One Royal Tern scolds another.	"Don't even think of doing that!"

Ocracoke (beach), Hyde County, NC 4/23/16

Non-breeding, molting Black-bellied Plover	Sanderling	Willet

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 4/23/16

Male Northern Cardinal	Carpet Beetle	House Sparrow gathering nesting material from cattails	Male Red-winged Blackbird in cedar tree

Springer's Point Nature Preserve, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 4/22/16

Beach	Male Red-winged Blackbird	Yellow-rumped Warbler

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 4/22/16

Banner	Birdfoot Trefoil	Birdfoot Trefoil with some faded (fertilized?) flowers	Evening Primrose	Houses across the marsh

Mite, 1-2 mm long	Blue-eyed Grass

Ocracoke (beach), Hyde County, NC 4/21/16

Double-crested Cormorant	Another Double-crested Cormorant	Mostly gulls on a sand bar	Tricolored Heron	Same Tricolored Heron

Tricolored Heron and crow

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 4/21/16

Barn Swallow	Barn Swallows	Blue Jay	Brown Pelican	Chive

Big house on the marsh	Pink Wood-Sorrel	Common Starling	Blue Toadflax	Yellow-rumped Warbler

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 4/20/16

Birdfoot Trefoil in the middle of the day	Birdfoot Trefoil in the early morning	Male Northern Cardinal	Eurasian Collared Dove	Another Eurasian Collared Dove

Great Egret, with green patch indicating breeding status	Mallard duckling without a family	A drainage ditch in the big marsh on the south end	Sunrise	Tricolored Heron flying past the pier

Yellowlegs	Same yellowlegs

Ocracoke (beach scenes were at north end of the island), Hyde County, NC 4/19/16

Crow	Egg cases	Eurasian Collared Dove	Small Ghost Crab	Left at tombstone in the town cemetery

House Sparrow	Another House Sparoow	Osprey aircraft flying low over the marsh	Another view of the Osprey aircraft	Palamedes butterfly

Interesting street sign

Ocracoke (halfway up the island), Hyde County, NC 4/18/16

Small Ghost Crab	Blue-eyed Grass	Grackle (nature trail)	Palamedes Swallowtail (nature trail)

Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC 4/18/16

Barn Swallow	Beach	Female Northern Cardinal at Springer's Point Nature Preserve	Eurasian Collared Dove	Another Eurasian Collared Dove

Grackle	Gulls in a cedar tree	Hen	Male House Finch	Same male House Finch

Male House Finch	Male Mallard, possibly hybrid w/ American Black Duck	Mourning Dove	Palamedes Swallowtail	Rooster

Common Starling	Sunrise	Yellow-rumped Warbler in breeding plumage

Pamlico Sound, Hyde County, NC 4/17/16

Swan Quarter	Swan Quarter	Herring Gull	Gull	Common Loon taking off

Herring Gull	An island	Laughing Gull	Herring Gull	Herring Gull

Juvenile Herring Full	Herring Gulls	Herring Gulls	Several Herring Gulls that apparently dove for the same object	Many Herring Gulls following the ferry's wake

Juvenile Herring Gull	Cormorants and gulls on Big Foot Island, which was created by dredging ferry channels	Double-crest Cormorant

4/19/15 (shortly before dawn)

Squirrel Treefrog? This one was much bigger than the one on the right.  But this is a very variable species.	Squirrel Treefrog

4/18/15

Willet	Sanderlings and a gull	Sanderlings	Ghost Crab	Feral cat.  Not seen at the beach, but put here for convenience.

Springer's Point Nature Preserve,  4/17/15

Great Crested Flycatcher	Snake

4/17/15

Palamedes Swallowtail	American Oystercatchers	Horned Grebes

Grackle reacting to cat	Feral cat eating grass	Crane flies mating

4/15/15

Sixteen Mallard ducklings	Karl at Herons Landing	Female Rambur's Forktail, seen at Nature Trail outside of town	Two Green Anoles apparently battling for territory; one was biting the other.	Green Anole

Tiny caterpillar, seen at Nature Trail	Male Red-winged Blackbird

4/14/15

Male House Sparrow	American Mink (Neovison vison)	Same mink	Same mink	Same mink

White Ibis	Shield-backed bug	Mallards	Green Heron	Eurasian Collared Dove

4/13/15

Blue-eyed Grass	Common Shore Tiger Beetle	Cormorants and Royal Terns	Willet

 5/24/12

Red Knot flying	Two Red Knots	Black-bellied Plover	Sanderling

Eurasian Collared Dove	Black-bellied Plover	Firewheels	Bee fly at bee nest	White-topped Sedge

5/23/12

Eastern Beach Tiger Beetle (Cicindela dorsalis).  The genus name may have recently been changed.	Marbled Godwit	Marbled Godwit and Sanderling	Same Marbled Godwit and Sanderling	Firewheels, in a small patch on a dune

5/23/12

A feral dog barking at me	The same dog barking at my husband	Bird's-foot Trefoil	Mallard bathing in a large puddle left by a big storm	Bear Grass

The south end	Violet Wood Sorrel (perhaps a member of the same species  as Pink Wood Sorrel: maybe lighting accounts for the slight difference in color)	White-topped Sedge	Brown-headed Cowbirds

5/13/09

Male Fiddler Crab, trying to intimidate me	Same crab, looking intimidated by my much taller husband.	Narrowleaf Blue-eyed Grass

Springer's Point Nature Preserve, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC  5/12/09

Ladybug Beetle (Cycloneda mundi)	Blue-tipped Dancer.  See other damselflies.	Little Wood Satyr (ventral)	Little Wood Satyr (dorsal)

North end of the island, NC 5/12/09

Salt Marsh Skipper	Salt Marsh Skipper, ventral view	Robber fly

5/11/09

Milkweed Assassin Bug (Zelus longipes)

May 13-16, 2007

Cattle Egret, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/16/07	Male Brown-headed Cowbird, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/16/07	Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus), Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/15/07	Male Red-winged Blackbird, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/15/07.  These birds can control how much of the red portion of their wings shows.	Fish Crow, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/15/07

 

White Ibises, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/15/07.  Note the grayish juvenile.	White Ibises, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/15/07	White Ibises, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/15/07	Juvenile Brown Pelican,  Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/14/07	Probably hybrid goose (Greylag/Canada Goose), Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/14/07

 

Snowy Egret, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/14/07	Royal Tern, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/14/07	European Starling, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/14/07	Barn Swallow, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/14/07

May 9-11, 2006

Sachem, 5/9/06	Juniper Hairstreak, 5/10/06	Salt Marsh Skipper, 5/10/06.  See more grass skippers.	Little Wood Satyr, 5/11/06	Stilt-legged Fly, 5/11/06

 

Ghost Crab, 5/11/06.  See more crustaceans.	Brackish-water Fiddler Crab, 5/11/06

Land Birds

Great Crested Flycatcher (Myarchus crinitus), Town of Ocracoke, 5/15/05.	Male European Starling, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/9/06	Fish Crow, Ocracoke, 5/9/06	Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/19/05	Male Red-winged Blackbird, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/9/06

Geese

Canada Goose and Greylag Goose  interspecies mating is suggested by some of these scenes.   I first saw this interspecies couple in 2003 and last saw what may have been them in 2005, when they mostly sat around. 

In May 2006, I saw no Greylag Geese and all of the Canada Geese were youthful and energetic.   They and the apparent hybrids pictured below, perhaps the offspring of the original couple, stayed together in a group, but no coupling was apparent.  There were four apparent hybrids in all, and about the same number of Canada Geese.

Goose family, town of Ocracoke, NC, 5/12/03.  Definitely not a typical Canada Goose (Branta Canadensis) family here!  The other adult is a Greylag Goose.  I counted 8 goslings, one of which seems to be facing toward me.  (Canada Goose goslings are tawny.)	A little over two years later (town of Ocracoke, 5/18/05), I spotted what appears to be this odd couple again.  They stayed on land this time, mostly sitting or eating grass, and I saw them on several different days in the same general area.  I didn't see them in May 2006.

 

Apparent Canada Goose/Greylag Goose hybrid, maybe the offspring of the couple on the left, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/18/05.  This goose and its Canada Goose companion hung around with the goose couple in the picture on the left in the evenings.	The goose on the right (also pictured at left) hung around with this Canada Goose, doing some swimming and some flying.  The last time I saw them, they had spotted something interesting in Silver Lake and were flying toward it, honking wildly.  Note the contrast between the Canada Goose on the left and the apparent hybrid on the right.  Even though goslings had appeared in Ocracoke in mid-May of 2003, none of any species showed up this time anywhere on Ocracoke Island.	Apparently a Canada Goose/Greylag Goose hybrid.  Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/10/06	Canada Goose, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/10/06

Others

Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), town of Ocracoke, 5/19/05.   As its name suggests, this heron is mainly nocturnal.	Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor), Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/10/06	Tricolored Heron, Ocracoke, 5/10/06	Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/10/06

 

Royal Tern (Sterna maxima), in breeding plumage, Ocracoke Island, Hyde County, NC, in flight, 5/9/06	Royal Terns (in breeding plumage), Ocracoke Island, Hyde County, NC, perhaps greeting the Hatteras Ferry, 5/9/06.	Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), Ocracoke Island, 5/16/05 (breeding plumage).

 

Juvenile Sanderling (Calidris alba), Ocracoke, 5/9/04.  A kind of sandpiper.	Dunlin (Calidris alpina), Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/10/06.  Breeding plumage.	Ruddy Turnstones (Atenaria interpres), in breeding plumage, Ocracoke Island, 5/16/05.  These migratory birds summer in northern Canada.	Ruddy Turnstone, also in breeding plumage Ocracoke Island, 5/16/05.

 

Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus), Ocracoke, 5/10/06	Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia), Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/10/06	Greater Yellowlegs, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/10/06

 

American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus), Ocracoke Island (north shore), 5/9/04.	American Oystercatcher, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/10/06

 

American Coot (Fulica americana), Ocracoke Island, Hyde County, NC, 5/19/05.

 

Female Common Green Darner (Anax junius), Ocracoke Island, 5/17/05

 

Another adult Laughing Gull, Ocracoke, 5/14/04.

Live Map of the town of Ocracoke (expandable)

View Larger Map