The Swanquarter National Wildlife Refuge is located in

Hyde County, North Carolina Hyde County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,589, making it the second-least populous county in North Carolina. Its county seat is Swan Quarter. The county was created in 170 ...

near the village of Swan Quarter. The area is a federally protected land and home to many species of wildlife and waterfowl. The refuge is administered from the nearby

Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge The Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge is a federally protected wildlife refuge located within Hyde County, North Carolina, United States. North Carolina's largest natural lake, Lake Mattamuskeet, is located entirely within the National Wildli ...

. The refuge has a total area of .USFWS Lands Report, 30 September 2007
/ref> The bird species that breed on the refuge are characteristic of species that inhabit other coastal plain communities. They include warblers, nuthatches, thrashers, and blue-gray gnatcatchers. Wading birds, such as the great blue heron are common and breeding has been documented in at least one rookery on this refuge. Bald eagles and

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

s have also historically nested on the refuge and viable nests remain. The most common winter bird species are the American robin, yellow-rumped warbler, the

red-winged blackbird The red-winged blackbird (''Agelaius phoeniceus'') is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North America and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and G ...

, and sparrows. Robins feed heavily on berries of red bay and greenbrier and roost in large concentrations along the ditches.

Myrtle warbler The myrtle warbler (''Setophaga coronata'') is a small New World warbler. It is considered a subspecies of the yellow-rumped warbler and its own species by different classification societies. The myrtle warbler has a northerly and easterly distri ...

s use vegetated ditch banks, and forest edges. They feed heavily on wax myrtle berries. The

northern harrier The northern harrier (''Circus hudsonius''), or ring-tailed hawk, is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA. The northern harrier migrates to more southerly areas ...

may be observed hunting over the marshes. Mammalian species of

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

and

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

range over the entire refuge. They are not hunted on this refuge, but are hunted on its adjacent property. The refuge is also home to

american alligator The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the gen ...

s. Approximately half the refuge was designated a part of

Swanquarter Wilderness Swanquarter Wilderness was designated in 1976, and it covers in the Swanquarter National Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina. The most prevalent bird wintering species residing in refuge marshes include northern pintail, green-winged teal, ...

. Great Island, located in the

Pamlico Sound Pamlico Sound ( ) is a lagoon in North Carolina which is the largest lagoon along the North American East Coast, extending long and 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 km) wide. It is part of a large, interconnected network of lagoon estuaries that i ...

, is located entirely within the wildlife refuge.

References

Swanquarter National Wildlife Refuge

USFWS The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

Protected areas of Hyde County, North Carolina National Wildlife Refuges in North Carolina Protected areas established in 1932 1932 establishments in the United States {{HydeCountyNC-geo-stub