A Mecca for Migratory Waterfowl

By Kip Tabb / Photo above: Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge boasts one of the largest populations of King Rails on the East Coast.
Photo Courtesy of Dr. Susan McRae, PhD

Tucked away in the northeast corner of North Carolina, accessible only by ferry from mainland Currituck or a narrow twisting road though Virginia, Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge is a hidden gem. The refuge is a little over 8,200 acres, almost all of it connected to Knotts Island.

There are isolated pockets of pine forest and shrub growth, but the dominant feature of the refuge is the marsh and swamp grass. The marsh seems to stretch endlessly to the horizon. It is stark, beautiful and filled with subtle shades of brown and green.

The waters of the marsh are gathered at the base of Mackay Island Road, a gravel road off NC615 on Knotts Island. On any given day there’s a half dozen, or more, men, women and families fishing from its banks. There’s bass in the waters, catfish, perch, and sometimes, according to the Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge website there may be an occasional flounder.

The Charles Kuralt Trail has a stop off NC615, the Marsh Causeway. The trail links eleven national wildlife refuges and a national fish hatchery site in Virginia and North Carolina and here the view looks north across North Bay.

An American Kestrel, the smallest North American Falcon, perches in a pine tree at Mackay Island. Photo by Kip Tabb

An osprey rests on a nesting platform 50 or 60 yards offshore from the Kuralt observation deck. A couple of double crested cormorants are perched on pilings at the platform’s base. There’s even a laughing gull flying back and forth, but it never lands.

Birds are the treasure of Mackay Island. In the summer, there are eastern kingbirds perched on branches, wading birds—blue herons, tri-colored herons and snowy egrets stalk their prey in the marsh. Along the Live Oak Point trail there’s a huge nest in a pine tree and an eagle glides effortlessly through the trees to its home.

The refuge is also one of the largest nesting sites of the king rail, a bird whose numbers have declined by 90% over the past 50 years, according to the Cornel University All About Birds website. Nesting deep in the reeds and grasses of the marsh, it is a secretive bird that is more often seen than heard.

Beginning in late September and October, though, is when Mackay Island explodes with life as migratory waterfowl by the tens of thousands come from their summer breeding grounds in Canada and the northern United States to spend the fall and winter at the reserve.

astern Kingbird perches on a tree branch at Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Kip Tabb

The geese and ducks come for the grasses and subaquatic vegetation, which is their primary food and refuge manager Mike Hoff has been working to improve the habitat. Much of what goes into improving the habitat is controlling the growth of Phragmites, an invasive grass that grows so thickly it overwhelms millet and other grasses that are the preferred food for migratory waterfowl.

“Because the natural marshes are starting to come back, the last couple years we’ve had really good numbers,” Hoff said. “The subaquatic vegetation has been so thick in the last several years, the biggest bump in numbers we got was from the Gadwall and wigeons. That being said, really the biggest player last year…was the Green-winged Teal. For whatever reason we had a flock of about 6,000 all winter long.”

There are a number of trails that give hikers and bike riders—most of the trails are ideal for an off-road bike—a great chance to explore the reserve.

The easiest trail in the refuge is the Great Marsh Trail off the Marsh Causeway. A short, flat .35 mile walk, it is a great introduction to Mackay Island for kids. There’s a pond in the middle of the loop with pine branches gently swaying in a breeze just above the water.

Most of the trails are on the south end of the refuge and the trails located there are continuations of the Mackay Island Road. When the trails are open and the gate allows traffic through, the trails are suitable for driving, biking and hiking.

Depending on how much time is available, it is possible to combine the trails that circle the Great Marsh to create a 5.5 mile hike. The refuge facility map does a great job of describing the trail conditions, giving a sense of both difficulty and length. There are no hills in Mackay Island, so the main challenge will be distance.

Gadwall Ducks taking flight at Mackay Island Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Mike Hoff, US Fish & Wildlife

Mackay Island is, and has always been, a remote place—yet this isolated place of marsh and pocosin swamp is where the concept of Ducks Unlimited, an international conservation organization with remarkable success in protecting migratory waterfowl habitat, was created.

Bordered by Currituck Sound to the west and Back Bay, a northern arm of Currituck Sound, to the north, Mackay Island has been a mecca for wildfowl hunters for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Before the first European explorer set foot on the North American continent, Native American tribes made hunting excursions to the waters of the Currituck Sound.

In 1918 Joseph Knapp bought 7,000 acres of marsh and forest on the north end of Knotts Island—Mackay Island as it was known.

An extraordinarily wealthy man, Knapp loved hunting, but migratory waterfowl numbers were plummeting. By the 1930s, the decline in migratory waterfowl numbers was so acute that in 1935 the US Biological Service—the predecessor to US Fish and Wildlife—was considering a one year moratorium on duck hunting.

“The Izaak Walton League of America (an early environmental group) signified its approval of the proposal of Jay N. Darling, chief of the United States Biological Survey, for a closed season on migratory waterfowl as the method of restoring the game,” the Bismarck (ND) Tribune reported in its April 15, 1935 edition.

Knapp who, with other wealthy hunters, founded the More Game Birds in America foundation, believed more information was needed. What he proposed was something that had never been done before—a migratory waterfowl survey, one that would include the United States and Canada.

The count estimated 2.2 million ducks in the United States, although that count does not appear to have included populations on the East and West Coast. Nonetheless, it was a sobering figure. By comparison, the 2024 migratory waterfowl census from USFW estimated 34 million ducks in the US.

Great Egret waiting for prey in a Mackay Island marsh. Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge is home to a remarkable diversity of wading birds. Photo by Kip Tabb

The survey did more than count ducks.

“Most importantly, the census dramatically reinforced for the duck-hunting constituency the need to focus on the prairies of Canada,” Michael Furtman wrote in The Ducks Unlimited Story, published in 2011.

To emphasize their organization’s commitment to creating sustainable duck populations, the founders of More Game Birds felt the word “duck” had to be in the organization’s new name. But in Canada the type of organization they envisioned would have to be designated a limited corporation, so the story goes, which meant the name would be Ducks Limited—an obviously unacceptable name. On January 29, 1937, Ducks Unlimited was incorporated.

While getting to Mackay Island can be challenging, there is a free ferry between Currituck Courthouse and Knotts Island that, depending on the time of year, runs three or five times daily. Princess Anne Road is the direct route from the Virginia side of the border. Once on Princess Anne Road, it’s a direct link to Knotts Island.

Knotts Island is its own unique part of North Carolina. A place of farms and widely scattered homes, there is only one grocery store on the island—which also has gas, although once in a while the pumps run dry. The store does have a deli, and the sandwiches are fresh and well made.

Mackay Island became part of the National Wildlife Refuge system in 1960. Because its primary mission is protecting migratory waterfowl habitat, most of the refuge is closed to public access from October 16 through March 14 to reduce disturbance to wintering waterfowl. Check the refuge website prior to visiting for possible closure information.

Author: Kip Tabb