HAMMOCKS BEACH STATE PARK, NC.

This beautiful NC State Park is located near Swansboro, NC, between Morehead City and Wilmington, NC. Only a small area of the Park and the Office are   located on the mainland. The largest part of the park is comprised of three offshore Islands, Bear, Jones, and Huggins. Bear Island is currently the only island the park provides ferry service to, but Jones and Huggins can be accessed by private boat. Bear Island is the outermost island, bordering the Atlantic on its east side. Ferry service is provided, with many trips out and back during the season from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. This park offers beautiful sound and ocean views, with multiple canals and cuts divided by coastal marsh islands, some with maritime forests. Bear Island offers both sound views and ocean views, along with shady forest comprising 892 acres of pristine and unspoiled places to explore , hike, and birdwatch. This is one of the BEST places in NC to see the entire range of shorebirds that frequent the Mid-Atlantic coast of the US. Here you can see oyestercatchers, yellowlegs, Dunlins, plovers, sandpipers, egrets, herons, terns, gulls, black skimmers, grackles, blackbirds and more, including a range of ducks in the winter. This is also the northern limit of the range of the Painted Bunting, and the park boasts several nesting pairs each spring and summer. Fall and spring migrants are plentiful. For full park information, schedules, maps, etc, click here


I have begun exploring this park and taking photographs only recently, but it is quickly becoming one of my favorite spots! The birding is fantastic and the scenery is great!.Nearby Swansboro offers its quaint village charm and boasts several great seafood restaurants. The very famous Yannas is probably the best breakfast spot on the NC coast 


For pictures of birds taken here, see gallery below

SEE GALLERY BELOW. CLICK ANY PIC TO ENLARGE

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