Birds

Baby Wood Duck Wood Duck
Wood ducks depend on wooded swamps, ponds and rivers for food and cover. They usually nest in brushy areas or in natural cavities of trees that are near or in the water. At night, wood ducks roost in swampy areas with cypress and gum trees. A wood duck’s diet includes berries, nuts, acorns, insects, mollusks, snails and aquatic plants.

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
The yellow-bellied sapsucker is found in North Carolina from late September to early May in mature deciduous trees near openings in the forest. They especially like forested areas that have recently been burned. Sapsuckers bore holes in the inner bark of trees, causing sap to ooze and run down the trees. They get their name from their habit of sucking the sap with their tongues. Unfortunately, sapsuckers can harm or kill otherwise healthy trees because the holes they make attract insects and provide access points for fungi and other diseases. In addition to sap, sapsuckers eat flying insects and fruits.

Screech Owl
Owl The screech owl, which is only 8 to 10 inches tall and has prominent ear tufts, is a fairly common bird throughout woodland areas of the Eastern United States. During the day, screech owls nest in natural cavities of trees or in old woodpecker holes at heights of as much as 50 feet above the ground. At night, screech owls hunt for large insects, rodents and other small animals, including reptiles, amphibians, snails, earthworms and bats. They have extremely sensitive ears and heads that can rotate 180 degrees.

Cardinal
The cardinal, which was named after the bright red robes worn by Roman Catholic cardinals, is the state bird of North Carolina. It lives in every type of wooded habitat throughout the state but prefers woodland edges, thickets, brushy swamps and gardens. The cardinal’s diet consists mainly of seeds but also includes insects during the breeding season. The male cardinal is a bright red, while the female is a brownish color. Both male and female cardinals are known for singing all year instead of just in the spring as many other birds do.

Red-Headed Woodpecker Red-headed Woodpecker
The red-headed woodpecker, which has a large white patch on its wings, is the only woodpecker with a solid red head. It prefers to live in open areas with dead or dying trees where it builds its nest. The red-headed woodpecker eats mostly plant material and some flying insects.

Wild Turkey Wild Turkey
Wild turkeys require many different types of forestland to survive, including mature stands of mixed hardwoods, relatively open understories and scattered clearings with several sources of permanent, open water. Turkeys eat almost anything they can swallow, including acorns, grass seeds, weeds, blackberries, grapes, cherries, grasshoppers, millipedes, snails and worms. They use clearings in the forest as a source of food as well as for breeding, nesting and brood rearing. At night small flocks roost in trees.

Ruffed Grouse
The ruffed grouse, a very secretive but permanent resident of deciduous forests of North Carolina’s mountains and western piedmont, gets its name from the tuft of black feathers on the neck of the male. The male also is known for the drumming noise he makes with his wings when he tries to attract a mate and ward off other males. The drumming noise can be heard as far as a mile away. Ruffed grouse eat leaves, buds, seeds, nuts, berries, grasshoppers and crickets. Their nests are usually hidden under logs, stumps, brush or shrubs, and are built out of leaves, twigs and feathers.

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