page_title: List of birds of North Carolina
section_title: Ducks, geese, and waterfowl
hierarchical_section_title: List of birds of North Carolina / Ducks, geese, and waterfowl
caption_attribution_description: Anas platyrhynchos (Mallard duck) mixed pair swimming.
context_page_description: This list of birds of North Carolina includes species documented in the U.S. state of North Carolina and accepted by the North Carolina Bird Records Committee of the Carolina Bird Club. As of January 2019, there are 469 species and a species pair definitively included in the official list. Twelve additional species, one of which is identified only at the genus level, are on the list but classed as provisional. Between January 2019 and July 2020, four more species were reported to eBird. Of the resulting 486 species, 89 are rare anywhere in the state, 92 are rare in some part of the state or in a single season, six have been introduced to North America, and four are extinct.
  This list is presented in the taxonomic sequence of the Check-list of North and Middle American Birds, 7th edition through the 61st Supplement, published by the American Ornithological Society. Common and scientific names are also those of the Check-list, except that the common names of families are from the Clements taxonomy because the AOS list does not include them.
context_section_description: Order: Anseriformes   Family: Anatidae
  The family Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, bills which are flattened to a greater or lesser extent, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to special oils. Forty-six species have been recorded in North Carolina.
  Black-bellied whistling-duck, Dendrocygna autumnalis (RI)
  Fulvous whistling-duck, Dendrocygna bicolor
  Snow goose, Anser caerulescens
  Ross's goose, Anser rossii
  Greater white-fronted goose, Anser albifrons
  Brant, Branta bernicla
  Barnacle goose, Branta leucopsis (R)
  Cackling goose, Branta hutchinsii
  Canada goose, Branta canadensis
  Mute swan, Cygnus olor
  Trumpeter swan, Cygnus buccinator (RI)
  Tundra swan, Cygnus columbianus
  Wood duck, Aix sponsa
  Garganey, Spatula querquedula (P) (R)
  Blue-winged teal, Spatula discors
  Cinnamon teal, Spatula cyanoptera (RI)
  Northern shoveler, Spatula clypeata
  Gadwall, Mareca strepera
  Eurasian wigeon, Mareca penelope
  American wigeon, Mareca americana
  Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos
  American black duck, Anas rubripes
  Mottled duck, Anas fulvigula (RI)
  White-cheeked pintail, Anas bahamensis (R)
  Northern pintail, Anas acuta
  Green-winged teal, Anas crecca
  Canvasback, Aythya valisineria
  Redhead, Aythya americana
  Ring-necked duck, Aythya collaris
  Tufted duck, Aythya fuligula (R)
  Greater scaup, Aythya marila
  Lesser scaup, Aythya affinis
  King eider, Somateria spectabilis (RI)
  Common eider, Somateria mollissima (RI)
  Harlequin duck, Histrionicus histrionicus (RI)
  Surf scoter, Melanitta perspicillata
  White-winged scoter, Melanitta deglandi
  Black scoter, Melanitta americana
  Long-tailed duck, Clangula hyemalis
  Bufflehead, Bucephala albeola
  Common goldeneye, Bucephala clangula
  Hooded merganser, Lophodytes cucullatus
  Common merganser, Mergus merganser
  Red-breasted merganser, Mergus serrator
  Masked duck, Nomonyx dominicus (R)
  Ruddy duck, Oxyura jamaicensis
caption: Mallards
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