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.
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| Prickly Pears and a Scallop shell. |
May 13-16, 2007
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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
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| 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 |
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| Ghost Crab, 5/11/06. See more crustaceans. | Brackish-water Fiddler Crab, 5/11/06 |
Land Birds
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| 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.
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| 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. |
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| 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
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| 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 | |
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| 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). |
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| 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, Ocracoke Island, 5/16/05. |
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| 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 |
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| American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus), Ocracoke Island (north shore), 5/9/04. | American Oystercatcher, Ocracoke, Hyde County, NC, 5/10/06 |
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| American Coot (Fulica americana), Ocracoke Island, Hyde County, NC, 5/19/05. |
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| Female Common Green Darner (Anax junius), Ocracoke Island, 5/17/05 |
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| Another adult Laughing Gull, Ocracoke, 5/14/04. |