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.Sacha Pfeiffer, "Outer Banks in winter peaceful, inexpensive", Boston Globe, Feb. 7, 2007.
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),North Carolina Coastal Reserve: Currituck Banks NC Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve, Retrieved Feb. 20, 2106. and is also listed as an eBird hotspot for birdwatching.eBird. 2010. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance (web application). Version 2. eBird, Ithaca, New York. Available: http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed: Jan. 24, 2010). 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 listCommon nameSnow Goose Canada Goose Mute Swan Tundra Swan Wood Duck GadwallMallardAmerican Black Duck Green-winged Teal White-winged Scoter Black Scoter BuffleheadCommon Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Ruddy Duck Pied-billed GrebeRock 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 KilldeerMarbled GodwitRuddy Turnstone Red Knot Stilt Sandpiper SanderlingSemipalmated Sandpiper Western Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Long-billed Dowitcher American Woodcock Solitary Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs WilletLesser 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 OspreyNorthern 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 SparrowFox SparrowDark-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 OvenbirdBlack-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
References
External links Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve North Carolina Reserve: The Currituck Banks Component