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Field and Swamp: Animals and Their Habitats |
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Archived-by-Date Pages
Swamp (and Marsh) Animals
These animals appeared either in swamps, marshes, or lake mudflats. To see anhingas, egrets,
teals, yellowbelly sliders and more alligators, go to
Audubon Swamp Garden.
American Alligator
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This was one of three little American Alligators that I saw at the I'on
Swamp of the Francis Marion National Forest, Charleston County, SC,
3/29/06 |
Baby American Alligator, near shore, clinging to
a lily pad, Cypress Gardens, Berkeley County, SC, 10/12/07 |
American Alligator, Shipley Trail at Bailey Homestead, Fort Myers, Lee County, FL 2/22/19 |
American Alligator, Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel, Lee County, FL 12/4/15 |
American Alligator, Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel, Lee County, FL 12/3/15 |
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Snakes
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Copperhead (Agkistrodon
contortix), Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Dare County, NC,
9/25/04. This snake showed up in a pocosin swamp area. |
Adult Redbelly Water Snake (Nerodia
erythrogaster), Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge,
Dare County, NC, 5/7/06. This snake showed up in a marsh off Milltail Road |
Adult Redbelly Water Snake,
Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Orange County, NC, 4/18/05, in a
small swamp that dried up during a drought the next year. |
Mystery marsh snake, Ocracoke, 5/9/06 |
Frogs and Toads
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Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans), Durham, NC, 3/31/17 |
Green Frog, (Lithobates clamitans), North Carolina Botanical Garden, Orange County, NC, 9/13/19 |
Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans), Durham, 9/12/05. I spotted this frog in a nearly dried up drainage
ditch in my neighborhood. |
Green Frog, (Lithobates clamitans), almost adult, but with a bit of a tail. Durham, NC, 4/26/17 |
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American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbiana), North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, NC, 8/29/19 |
American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbiana), North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, NC, 6/13/18 |
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Durham, 9/14/05. Depending on your source, Eastern Narrowmouth Toad, and its Latin name is Gastrophryne
carolinensis (subfamily Microhylinae). This frog/toad was about half an inch long and had
strayed from the swamp in my Durham neighborhood, where others of its
species normally remain hidden. I brought it back to
the swamp edge. |
American Toad mating pair, Durham, 3/4/06. The blue and white beads are
apparently eggs. |
Young Fowler's Toad, Durham (bordering my
neighborhood marsh near the swamp), 6/9/05. This immature toad is
starting to get a stripe down its back, a mark of adulthood. |
Young Fowler's Toad, Durham, 5/27/05. Like
the toad on the left, this was one of hundreds in this small area, no
two alike in color and pattern. |
Northern Cricket Frog, Durham, 10/28/05.
In mini-swamp in my neighborhood. |
Green Treefrogs (Hyla cinerea)
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Green Treefrog, Durham, NC 6/30/17 |
Green Treefrog, Durham, NC, 8/10/15 |
Another Green Treefrog, well-hidden. Durham, NC, 8/15/16 |
Green Treefrog, Durham, NC, 8/21/09 |
Green Treefrog, Durham, NC, 8/26/12 |
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Three views of same Green Treefrog,
Durham, 10/3/05. Typical languid frogs in my neighborhood swamp! |
Turtles
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Snapping Turtle, Durham, NC, 6/10/10 |
Yellowbelly
Slider, with lots of duckweed, fresh from a swampy area. ID thanks
to Brian Bockhahn. Flat River Impoundment, Durham County, NC,
6/3/11 |
Redbelly Turtle (Pseudemys rubiventris), Dare
County, NC, 10/6/05. |
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Birds
Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus)
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Male Red-winged Blackbird, Abbott's Lagoon, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, CA, 5/8/16 |
Fledgling Red-winged Blackbird, Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA, 6/11/16 |
Subadult female Red-winged Blackbird, Prairie Ridge Ecostation, Raleigh, Wake County, NC, 8/10/17 |
Red-winged Blackbird stopping by to deliver a grasshopper to her fledgling offspring, Abbott Lake, Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA, 6/8/16 |
Subadult male Red-winged
Blackbird, Lake Park, Carolina Beach, New Hanover County, 5/22/11 |
Probably a male Red-winged Blackbird in transitional plumage, Durham, NC, 1/23/18 |
Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana)
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Swamp Sparrow, Durham, NC, 1/3/16 |
Same Swamp Sparrow, Durham, NC, 1/25/16 |
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Swamp Sparrow,
Audubon Swamp Garden, Charleston County, SC, 3/28/06 |
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Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)
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Eastern Kingbird, Pea Island
NWR, 5/7/06, near a marshy area. |
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Green Herons (Butorides virescens)
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Green Heron, Carolina Lake, Carolina Beach, New Hanover County, NC, 3/11/19 |
Green Heron, Carolina Lake, Carolina Beach, New Hanover County, NC, 12/20/17 |
Same Green Heron, Carolina Lake, Carolina Beach, New Hanover County, NC, 3/15/19 |
Right in the heart of my Durham, NC,
neighborhood swamp, duckweed and all, in a Green Heron, seen on
6/26/05 and many days thereafter. |
Green Heron, Durham, NC, 6/24/05 |
Green Heron (Butorides virescens), Flat River Waterfowl Impoundment, Durham County, NC, 7/17/11 |
Other Birds
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Juvenile male Eastern Bluebird, Durham, 9/19/05.
Eastern Bluebirds frequently land in the leafless branches of trees in
my neighborhood swamp, as did this one. |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptera
caerulea), Durham, 7/16/05. These show up in trees at the edges of swamps and marshes. |
Ducks
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Male Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors), Audubon Swamp
Garden, Charleston
County, SC, 3/28/06. |
Male Green-winged Teal, Turnbull Birding Center, Port
Aransas, TX, 2/20/14 |
Mallard family among Water Primroses, Durham, NC, 7/2/16 |
Hooded Mergansers, Sarasota, FL, 12/4/14 |
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Common Gallinules (Gallinula Chloropus),
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Common Gallinule, Bailey Tract, Sanibel Island, Lee County, FL, 2/22/19 |
Common Gallinule (until
recently known as Common Moorhen), Port Aransas, Nueces County, TX, 2/7/13 |
Common Gallinule, Sarasota, FL. 1/24/17 |
Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola)
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Virginia Rail, Buccaneer State Park, Hancock County, MS, 10/19/19 |
Same Virginia Rail |
Virginia Rail, Abbott's Lagoon, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, NC, 5/8/16 |
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Other Waterfowl
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Canada
Goose territorial battle. There was a lot of honking
leading up to the chasing of two geese onto the far shore.
Southpoint Swamp, Durham, NC, 3/16/11 |
Sandhill Crane with prey, Myakka River State Park, Sarasota, FL, 1/25/17 |
Whooping Cranes, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Rockport, TX, 2/6/13 |
Three Limpkins in the open and another mostly hidden, Myakka River State Park, Sarasota, FL, 1/25/17 |
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Tricolored Heron, Shipley Trail at Bailey Homestead, Fort Myers, Lee County, FL 2/22/19 |
Tricolored Heron,
a marsh in a residential area in Sarasota, FL, 12/1/14 |
Transitional Little Blue Heron, Carolina Lake, Carolina Beach, NC, 3/11/19 |
Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea),
Audubon Swamp Garden, Charleston County, SC, 3/28/06 |
Great Blue Heron, Peaks of Otter, Bedford County, VA, 7/16/12 |
American Coot, Carolina Lake, Carolina Beach, New Hanover County, NC, 1/21/15 |
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Butterflies & Skippers
Least Skippers (Ancyloxypha numitor) are the ultimate
marsh and swamp lepidopterans: They are found in few other places, and
were superabundant in my Durham neighborhood swamp during the summer of 2005,
during which time mating territory was hotly contested.
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Mating Least Skippers with
interloper in my Durham neighborhood marsh fronting a swamp, 9/14/05. This third skipper
went to an awful lot of trouble to butt in, but mating proceeded
nonetheless. |
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This Least Skipper was moving rapidly through a pocosin (black-water
swamp) in Alligator River National Wildlife Reserve in Dare County on
9/25/04. |
This Least Skipper was perched on some grass blades
coming out of Siler's Bog in Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Chapel Hill,
Orange County, NC in the morning (10:39 am) on 10/3/04. Note the
short abdomen: this is the only female on this page. |
Finally, a Least Skipper with a genuinely "weak"
flight! I caught up with it in the usual Durham swamp on 6/18/05. |
Palatka Skippers, though officially an endangered species,
are apparently locally common in some parts of Alligator River National Wildlife
Refuge (Dare County, NC). Viceroys are relatively common in marshes and
less likely to be found elsewhere in my experience. Dion Skippers normally
stay near the coast, but some showed up in my neighborhood marsh after Hurricane
Katrina came through in early September of 2005.
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Female Pearl Crescent, I'on Swamp, Francis Marion
National Forest, SC, 3/29/06. |
Palatka Skipper (Euphyes pilatka). I took this picture in the Alligator River National
Wildlife Refuge in Dare County, NC on 9/25/04. Jeff Pippen
identified this relatively large skipper. |
Dion Skipper (Euphyes dion),
Durham neighborhood marsh fronting a swamp, 9/9/05. Two Dion
Skippers showed up in this marsh over a period of four days. |
Dion Skipper. This relatively large skipper
showed up on the edge of a marsh in my
Durham neighborhood early on 9/5/05. It looked more orange than brown in
direct light. The light ray on the hind wing is characteristic. |
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Palamedes Swallowtail (Papilio palamedes),
Tyrrell County, NC. This swallowtail appeared near a swamp off the
Albemarle Sound. |
Viceroy (Limenitis archippus), Durham, 7/16/05. Found at edge of swamp opening
and closing its wings. |
American Snout (Libytheana carinenta), Durham, NC, 4/27/16 |
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Beetles
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Spotted Ladybug Beetle (Coleomegilla maculata) mating pair, Durham (neighborhood
marsh), 6/18/05. This is the most abundant species by far in this
marsh. |
Spotted Ladybug Beetle (Coleomegilla
maculata) larva, Durham, 6/23/05, seen on a cattail leaf at the same
swamp as the adult Coleomegilla maculata beetles above. ID based on
Marshall (2006), p. 345. |
Seven-spotted Ladybug Beetle (Coccinella
septempunctata) larva, Durham (edge of marsh
at neighborhood swamp), 4/11/09. This nimble little rascal climbed
rapidly over grass plants and other objects, readily bending in two. |
Ladybug beetle pupa,
Durham, 6/18/05. I found this sitting on a leaf near my
neighborhood swamp. This was
about a third of an inch long. |
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Golden Tortoise Beetle (Charidotella bicolor),
Durham, NC, 9/10/06, found on the edge of a little swamp near a
power line cut. |
Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Labidomera clivicollis), Eno River State Park,
Orange County, NC, 10/9/06. Seen on the banks of Bobbitt's Hole. |
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Margined Leather-wing (Chauliognathus marginatus).
Wing maintenance, Durham marsh fronting swamp, 7/2/05. Notice the leg over the
wing. |
Sometime later. |
True Bugs
Big-eyed Toad Bugs (Gelastocoris oculatus)
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Big-eyed Toad Bug scooting
across the water surface of a small stream, Jordan Lake east of the NC-751
bridge, Chatham County, NC, 10/26/11 |
Big-eyed Toad Bug swimming, in a puddle that was an extension of overflowing Jordan Lake, Chatham County, NC, 10/14/16. This was on the west side of Highway 751, after a tropical storm brought water into a cornfield. |
Big-eyed Toad Bug, Jordan Lake east of the NC-751 bridge, Chatham County, NC, 9/26/16 |
Shore Bugs (Saldidae family)
Chiloxanthinae subfamily
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Shore bug
(Pentacora ligata), Jordan Lake, Chatham County, NC, 7/8/14 |
Shore bug (Pentacora ligata), Dismal Falls, Giles County,
VA, 6/14/11 |
Saldinae subfamily
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Shore Bug (Saldula pallipes), Durham, 4/9/06. Seen in a large marsh
bordering on a swamp. This bug was about
⅛ inch long. These are scavengers. |
Shore bug (Salda lugubris), seen in a drainage conduit to a pond, Durham, NC, 5/6/17. ID thanks to Vassily Belov. |
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Froghopper
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Two-lined
Froghopper (Prosapia bicincta), Durham, 9/23/05. Found
in my local marsh on a cattail leaf. |
Flies
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Maybe mosquito larvae, Durham, 7/27/06. Note how
bubbles come from the tail ends of the larvae. |
Adult mosquito emerging from pupa. Durham, NC, 9/8/06.
The little dark things may be mosquito pupae. |
Adult mosquito with foot on exuviae, Durham, NC, 9/8/06 |
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I think this is a fly larva, possibly Stratiomys
genus. Durham, NC, 9/8/06. Found in a deep puddle at the edge of a
marsh on the edge of a power line cut. The slender end of the
larva is often kept at the water's surface while the rest of the body
remains submerged. |
Southern Bee Killer (Mallophora orcina),
on a cattail stalk at Carolina Beach State Park, New Hanover County, NC, 10/12/06. At
first it looked like a big bumblebee: what a surprise to see those
(robber) fly
eyes! |
Marsh Fly (Limnia loewi?), Little Scaly Mountain, Macon County, NC,
8/9/05. |
Mating Stilt-legged Flies (Micropezidae
family), Durham,
6/13/06. Many mating animals are easy to photograph, but these
were really on the move! |
Picture-winged Fly (Delphinia picta), Durham, 6/13/06,
on a cattail leaf. As is the case with the Stilt-legged Flies,
these are mainly marsh dwellers. |
Dragonflies
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Male Needham's Skimmer (Libellula
needhami), Fort Fisher Basin Trail, New Hanover County, NC, 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 dragonfly showed up at the
edge of the marsh at the head of the |
This female Needham's Skinner was
flying all around the Ft. Fisher Basin Trail, New Hanover County, on 10/18/05, but never
landed. This was in a large marshy area. |
Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula
pulchella), Durham,
8/21/05. Seen at my Durham neighborhood swamp. |
Male Spangled Skimmer (Libellula
cyanea), on a cattail in my Durham neighborhood
swamp, 6/13/06 |
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Male Common Green Darner, Durham, 7/27/06.
This darner was constantly in flight at the edge of a swamp, but hovered long enough for me to
take this photo. |
Male Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum), Dare
County, NC, 10/6/05. |
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Dragonfly nymph, with crane fly and tadpoles, Durham, NC 4/27/16 |
Dragonfly exuvia shed at Milltail Road, Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Dare County,
NC, 5/7/06. |
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Damselflies
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This adult male Citrine Forktail is an especially anomalous damselfly,
seen in my Durham neighborhood swamp on 6/18/05. Note the markings on
the wings. Thanks to Josh Rose for ID. |
This male Citrine Forktail (Durham,
6/27/05) seems to be
normal. This damselfly is even shorter than the Fragile
Forktail (less than an inch long), and was barely visible to me.
These males are fairly common in my Durham neighborhood swamp. |
Copyright © 2006-2019 Dorothy E. Pugh