Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve
# Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve

36°23′30″N 75°50′04″W﻿ / ﻿36.391756°N 75.834374°W﻿ / 36.391756; -75.834374

Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve is a component site of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve on the Currituck Banks, north of Corolla, North Carolina. Currituck Banks is one of three original National Estuarine Research Reserve sites dedicated by NOAA in 1985. The reserve encompasses 965 acres of varied habitat and is bordered by the Currituck Sound. The Currituck banks are part of a 70-mile long barrier spit that extends from Virginia Beach to Oregon Inlet.

## Description

The reserve is an example of a low-salinity estuarine ecosystem and contains a variety of habitats, including beach, sand dunes, grasslands, shrub thicket, maritime forest, brackish and freshwater marshes, tidal flats, and subtidal soft bottoms.

The reserve was described in the Boston Globe as being among the coast's most beautiful nature preserves; the review noted that the reserve and surrounding area are nearly empty of people during the off-season.

## Fauna

The reserve is home to a wealth of birds and fish, including commercial and game fish species. The reserve allows hunting (with a registration form required), and is also listed as an eBird hotspot for birdwatching. Mammals include white-tailed deer, eastern gray squirrel, cottontail and marsh rabbit, opossum, raccoon, gray fox, bobcat, muskrat, river otter, and the invasive nutria. The uniquely brackish water allows both salt water and freshwater species of fish to thrive here. Saltwater fish species include speckled trout, flounder, red drum, mullet and striped bass. Freshwater fish species include largemouth bass, sunfish, crappie, and perch.

Bird species list :

* Common Name
* Snow Goose
* Canada Goose
* Mute Swan
* Tundra Swan
* Wood Duck
* Gadwall
* Mallard
* American Black Duck
* Green-winged Teal
* White-winged Scoter
* Black Scoter
* Bufflehead
* Common Merganser
* Red-breasted Merganser
* Ruddy Duck
* Pied-billed Grebe
* Rock Pigeon
* Mourning Dove
* Yellow-billed Cuckoo
* Chuck-will's-widow
* Chimney Swift
* Ruby-throated Hummingbird
* King Rail
* Clapper Rail
* Virginia Rail
* American Coot
* Black-bellied Plover
* Semipalmated Plover
* Killdeer
* Marbled Godwit
* Ruddy Turnstone
* Red Knot
* Stilt Sandpiper
* Sanderling
* Semipalmated Sandpiper
* Western Sandpiper
* Short-billed Dowitcher
* Long-billed Dowitcher
* American Woodcock
* Solitary Sandpiper
* Greater Yellowlegs
* Willet
* Lesser Yellowlegs
* Parasitic Jaeger
* Bonaparte's Gull
* Black-headed Gull
* Laughing Gull
* Lesser Black-backed Gull
* Herring Gull
* Great Black-backed Gull
* Least Tern
* Caspian Tern
* Common Tern
* Forster's Tern
* Royal Tern
* Sandwich Tern
* Common Loon
* Magnificent Frigatebird
* Northern Gannet
* Double-crested Cormorant
* American White Pelican
* Brown Pelican
* American Bittern
* Least Bittern
* Great Blue Heron
* Great Egret
* Snowy Egret
* Little Blue Heron
* Tricolored Heron
* Cattle Egret
* Green Heron
* Black-crowned Night-Heron
* Glossy Ibis
* Black Vulture
* Turkey Vulture
* Osprey
* Northern Harrier
* Sharp-shinned Hawk
* Cooper's Hawk
* Bald Eagle
* Red-shouldered Hawk
* Red-tailed Hawk
* Eastern Screech-Owl
* Great Horned Owl
* Barred Owl
* Belted Kingfisher
* Gray Catbird
* Brown Thrasher
* Northern Mockingbird
* European Starling
* Cedar Waxwing
* House Finch
* Purple Finch
* Pine Siskin
* American Goldfinch
* Chipping Sparrow
* Fox Sparrow
* Dark-eyed Junco
* White-throated Sparrow
* Seaside Sparrow
* Saltmarsh Sparrow
* Song Sparrow
* Swamp Sparrow
* Eastern Towhee
* Orchard Oriole
* Red-winged Blackbird
* Brown-headed Cowbird
* Common Grackle
* Boat-tailed Grackle
* Ovenbird
* Black-and-white Warbler
* Prothonotary Warbler
* Swainson's Warbler
* Orange-crowned Warbler
* Common Yellowthroat
* American Redstart
* Northern Parula
* Magnolia Warbler
* Chestnut-sided Warbler
* Blackpoll Warbler
* Black-throated Blue Warbler
* Palm Warbler
* Pine Warbler
* Yellow-rumped Warbler
* Yellow-throated Warbler
* Prairie Warbler
* Black-throated Green Warbler
* Summer Tanager
* Northern Cardinal
* Rose-breasted Grosbeak
* Blue Grosbeak
* Indigo Bunting
* House Sparrow
