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Experience Bald Head
Wading birds, ibis and egrets, roosting in trees at a dusk rookery

The residents

The animals were here first, and the island still runs on their schedule. Who you'll meet, when, and how to be a good guest.

Sunrise and sunset, island time
An American alligator floating in a dark lagoon near a vegetated bank

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American alligator

The lagoons have landlords. Bald Head's freshwater ponds and creeks host alligators that sun on the banks and cruise like slow submarines.

Pelicans perched on red channel marker buoy number 18

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Brown pelicans

Squadrons of brown pelicans patrol the beaches in single file, inches off the water, then fold up and hit the sea like thrown anvils when the fish show.

Wading birds, ibis and egrets, roosting in trees at a dusk rookery

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Ibis, egrets & herons

The salt marsh runs a shift system: herons stalking the creeks at low tide, egrets flashing white against the green, and ibis commuting in ragged Vs at dusk.

BHI Conservancy sea turtle information kiosk

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Sea turtles

Loggerheads haul out of the Atlantic on summer nights to nest on the island's beaches, and the whole island rearranges itself around them.

Guided wildlife experiences (birding, kayak trips, and turtle walks for members) run through the BHI Conservancy. Species notes on these pages are the guide's field observations; confirm specifics with the Conservancy's naturalists.