I’ve never been to North Carolina but I will be moving there at some point this year. I’ve visited the Florida Keys and South Carolina once each, but other than that I haven’t spent much time in the southeast US. (I’ve mostly lived/traveled in the northeast). That said, I’m very excited to move to a new state and have the chance to see new species there. I have been using iNat to explore the species observed there, and was delighted to discover that there is a Red Wolf reintroduction program in North Carolina, as well as an island with wild horses.
For those who have lived or visited there, what is your favorite part of the ecosystem there? What are your favorite natural places in the state (especially the eastern/coastal areas)? What are some notable differences in the ecosystem (if you know them) between North Carolina and the northeast states like Pennsylvania?
I know I can (and I will) look up the answers on the internet but I would love to have personal recommendations as well.
Thank you!
Visit the Green Swamp and you can see Venus Flytraps in their native habitat, as well as other fun carnivorous plants.
I’m very fond of the little Brown-headed Nuthatches. There is also something delightful about observing Carolina Chickadees in the region they were named for.
Some of the birds you might know in Pennsylvania will overwinter in the southeast, so you may see them around at different times than you are used to.
I live in the west, and I don’t really have a favorite. I’d be a member of the Fan Clubmoss Fan Club if there were such a thing, and one species I’ve heard often but not seen is the chuck-will’s-widow.
There’s something about the baldcypress. Its cones show its relationship with the redwoods out west; it is deciduous, losing its needles in fall (hence the “bald” in its name); and it has pneumatophores – wooden “stalagmites” that carry oxygen to the roots, enabling it to live in waterlogged soil.
I can’t choose just one, though. The baldcypress swamps are home to the Prothonotary Warbler – a bird bright yellow all over. And I have gone various times out to Goose Creek State Park to see the dwarf palmettoes, eastern North America’s northernmost native palm.
As a bonus: my least favorite part of the ecosystem is the deer flies.
I love all the cool trees that I don’t get to see in Maine, such as hickories, redbuds, and tuliptrees.
I’m not sure I can choose one, but I love all the more uncommon marine mollusks. I love seeing tusk shells, ceriths, and my personal favorite, the One-tooth Simnia. However, I don’t get the chance to see these outside of when I’m exclusively looking for them.
For our more common species, I love Ummidia, and grass shrimp. If we’re talking about less-obscure species, the Great Blue Heron has to be my favorite. I love seeing them soar over the sky, and watching them fish. It’s surreal.
If it’s ok with you, I will give you a “digital tour”… I’ve been fortunate in my job to visit/work in nearly each of our 100 counties. As noted, it’s impossible to choose a “favorite” but here are some statewide considerations. This is a little long but, it’s a big state.
: )
It’s also a “wide” state, east-west and with elevation/topography. As ecologists, we take a broad view of 5-6 habitats. Start way out west - The Southern Appalachians host our highest peaks. There are various mountain ranges, for example Mt. Mitchell is the highest (nearly 6700’) and is in the Black Mountains. I’m fond of this region for having worked on a few projects out there.
But to the SW are the Plott and Great Balsam ranges, then on to the Smokies. All great to explore. Lots of habitats within this region. Above ~4500’ you get the spruce-fir-birch ecotone; just below on the NE slopes are Northern Hardwoods. Etc. A lot of National Forests to explore. Many of the species in this region are “boreal”. Many bird species from the Alleghenies and further north, breed in the So App’s, above ~3000’. So you’d likely recognize those if you can get ‘out west’.
Drop below and east and you are in the Piedmont region. This area is highly fractured by our major cities (Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Raleigh where I live…). And yet there are many open spaces to explore. I work in one area called the Uwharrie Mountains region. Those mountains peak at ~1000’ but they harbor a lot of biodiversity. And there is the Uwharrie National Forest among other preserved open spaces.
Otherwise this region is mixed hardwood, mixed pine-hardwood, upland “prairies” or meadows; much agriculture; rivers and floodplains…
Continue east in the coastal plain, which many of us divide into the inner CP and outer CP. Bottomland hardwoods, swamps, the estuarine marshes etc. The Green Swamp was mentioned. Other good places include Alligator River NWR (Red Wolf project); Pungo, Mattamuskeet, Dismal Swamp, and a few others… all NW Refuges (there are 9 NWR units out there). There is also the Croatan National Forest.
To the south of me is a broad area called The Sandhills. This is our Longleaf Pine ecosystem. A lot to explore there. We have the NC Wildlife Resources Commission agency and they manage a lot of lands across NC. For example, the Sandhills Gamelands are a great place to explore. As is Weymouth Woods State Natural Area.
And then you have the beaches, islands, and ocean waters within jurisdiction. And beyond if you want to go on a seabird-watching cruise, or fishing… it’s not exactly cheap but many folks do this.
When folks ask me what is my favorite bird, I tell them it’s whichever one for which I currently have a grant. I have some internal funding I’ve sent to my collaborators to continue work on catching/tagging/releasing Painted Buntings. This species primarily occurs in shrub-scrub habitat within a kilometer of our coast.
You have to get down to Morehead City and further SW to really find them. We do our work in New Hanover and Brunswick counties where they are most numerous. The males are quite the dramatic-looking bird.
I also agree with Brown-headed Nuthatch. Adorable and a frequent visitor to my feeders.
Depending on how far south you get, you can find Queen’s (butterfly); we also get some other fun tropicals both down east and up into the Piedmont: such as, Gulf Fritillary, Long-tailed Skipper, Brazilian skipper etc.
Keep an eye out for the endangered Southern Plains Bumblebee down east.
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/308937-Bombus-fraternus
Thank you! This was very helpful. I hope to visit many of the places you’ve mentioned in North Carolina.
Just got back from my vegetarian group’s annual Thanksgiving dinner. It reminded me of another favorite North Carolina species. A lot of people think of turkeys, like other Galliformes, as mainly ground birds. But once, when I was back in a bottomland forest, I saw a flock of wild turkeys pass by entirely in the canopy, branch to branch and tree to tree, without coming to the ground.
(A vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner? We have “glurkey,” made from seitan.)
i’ve never been to the coast, but the mountains are teeming with fascinating life. lampshade spiders and bioluminescent fungus gnat larvae and folding door spiders and and and - …to say nothing of the salamander diversity…
If number of observations is any indication, mine seems to be six-spotted tiger beetle. I’m happy seeing just about anything when I’m out though.