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Carolina Beach in town (mostly Carolina Lake), New Hanover County, NC
Carolina Lake, in the southern part of Carolina Beach near the main drag, is a gathering place of a wonderful variety of migrating birds in the winter. For directions, see this live map.
1/21/12
1/20/12
Rock Doves and Boat-tailed Grackles
Lesser Scaups (both male
and female) and a female Bufflehead
Crested Peking Duck (Anas
platyrhynchos domestica), introduced from China
1/20/12
View on sunrise from the downtown area
1/19/12
8/12/11
Bonaparte's Gull
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| Carolina Beach: looking at approaching thunderclouds |
Carolina Lake 5/23/11
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| Black Skimmer, Carolina Lake, at 5:48 PM | Black Skimmers | Eurasian Collared Dove |
Carolina Lake 5/22/11
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| Mallard family with frisky duckling, apparently out of control, Carolina Lake | Common Starling | Eurasian Collared Dove | Female Red-winged Blackbird, Carolina Lake |
Carolina Lake 1/18/11
This day was cloudy and cloud cover was light in the afternoon. The lake was partially drained, creating artificial mudflats that the birds took full advantage of.
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| Male Wood Duck in breeding plumage | Juvenile Brown Pelican | American Coot | Killdeer in flight | Killdeer |
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| Male Mallard | Female Mallard | Male Northern Shoveler | Female Northern Shoveler |
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| White Ibis, which has a muddy bill | Great Egret | Lesser Yellowlegs |
Carolina Lake 1/16/11
It was already getting cloudy.
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| Non-breeding Pied-billed Grebe | Great Egret | This might be a female Redhead. |
9/27/10
At Carolina Lake
The heavy rains caused flooding. Despite a pump used to drain water from the lake, much grass was under water.
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| American Toad | Bullfrog | Tricolored Heron | Male Red-winged Blackbird |
At the beach
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| Sanderling | Willet | Male Boat-tailed Grackle in Cabbage Palm at Carolina Lake | Sanderlings flying |
In an undeveloped field
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| Wild Poinsettia (Euphorbia heterophylla), one of many in a patch |
Carolina Lake 5/14/10
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| Tricolored Heron |
In town 3/9/10
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| Ground Beetle (Gnaphosa genus). The presence of wings is a mystery, maybe the remains of prey. | Purple Dead-nettle |
Carolina Beach Marina 3/9/09
This Brown Pelican came in for a landing, keeping an eye on me the whole time. OK, the last picture was of a different pelican... This was an ideal place for pelicans to catch fish, because the fish were confused by the dead end that the marina created.
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Here are some more Brown Pelican pictures:
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| Double-crested Cormorant |
Carolina Lake 3/9/09
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| Male Mallards: Note how the angle of light makes their heads look purple instead of the usual green | Pied-bill Grebe | American Coot | Lesser Scaup | Long-legged flies (Hydrophorus genus), which raced in rapid circles on the water before landing on this mass of algae. |
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| Common Starling (formerly known as the European Starling). This bird actually showed up a few blocks away from Carolina Lake. | Northern Mockingbird, a few blocks from Carolina Lake |
Carolina Lake 6/25/08
This series of pictures shows what seems to be a decision-making process among some ducks (a male Mallard, a Blue Swede, and two white domestic breed ducks), with the passive participation of a Swan Goose. The mallard and the Blue Swede seemed to be a mated pair.
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| The original plan seemed to be to march east. The ducks are quacking together. | This really looks like a discussion, but note that the Chinese Goose seems to be left out. | Final checking for agreement? |
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| All marching west, with the mallard in the lead. | More marching | Finally, the Chinese Goose falls to the rear, emitting pitiful-sounding wails. |
Lots of Mallard families: the males seem to drop out of the picture, which is probably best considering their coloring (in contrast to the situation with geese).
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| Mallard duckling | Unusual male Mallard. | One Mallard family | Another Mallard family |
Two very good-looking birds often taken for granted
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| Male Boat-tailed Grackle | Rock Dove |
Carolina Lake 1/6/08
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| Breeding female Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) | American Coot. See those big feet! | Blue Swede |
Carolina Lake 1/5/08
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| Redhead (Athya americana), male in breeding plumage | Male Boat-tailed Grackle | Nonbreeding adult Common Starlings |
Copyright © 2005-2011 Dorothy E. Pugh
Map of Carolina Lake, Carolina Beach State Park