List of Birds of North Carolina

List Of Birds Of North Carolina

In the state of North Carolina, 469 species of birds have been recorded. This number includes the bird species that have been sighted in North Carolina and are believed to be of wild origin. The North Carolina Bird Records Committee maintains the records for bird sightings in North Carolina and produce the list used by most birders to objectively evaluate species recorded in the state. The committee votes on the validity of new records of bird species in the state. The committee last met in 2009, On October 15, 2010 a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper was located at Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, while on April 20, 2011, a Cassin's Sparrow was observed in Scotland County. If either record is accepted, it will be the first recorded appearance of the species in the state.

Official bird lists are sorted by taxonomic sequence. The taxonomic treatment (designation and sequence of orders, families, genera and species) and nomenclature (common and scientific names) used by the North Carolina Bird Records Committee follows the conventions of the American Ornithologists' Union's (1998) Check-list of North American birds, the recognized scientific authority on the taxonomy and nomenclature of North American birds. The American Ornithologists' Union's Committee on Classification and Nomenclature, the body responsible for maintaining and updating the Check-list, "strongly and unanimously continues to endorse the biological species concept (BSC), in which species are considered to be genetically cohesive groups of populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups". Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy provides an alternative phylogenetic arrangement based on DNA-DNA hybridization.

Unless otherwise noted, all species listed below are considered to occur regularly in North Carolina as permanent residents, summer or winter visitors, or migrants. The following codes are used to denote certain categories of species:

• (I) - Introduced: Birds that have been introduced to North America by the actions of man, either directly or indirectly.
• (E) - Extinct
• (P) - Provisional list: Birds that have been approved by the committee but are only known from one or two sight records are listed as provisional; there is no physical evidence, i.e. specimen, photograph, or video recording, of the species in the state. By their very nature, these birds are considered irregular or of rare occurrence in North Carolina.
• (R) - Rare: These birds have been seen less than ten times in North Carolina but do not meet the requirements for the Provisional list.

Note: Birds marked with asterisk (*) not identified to species, but distinct enough to be considered as a separate entry