Cape Fear Coast Duck Migration Forecast

Where Cape Fear Coast is

Cape Fear Coast is drawn from 4 counties in North Carolina: Brunswick, New Hanover, Onslow and Pender. Those are the counties its shape on the DuckCast map is built from, so a hunter in any of them reads this region’s score.

Public ground with waterfowl hunting

• Holly Shelter Game Land (Pender County): Lodge Road and green-tree waterfowl impoundments; NCWRC lists wood duck and green-winged teal.
• White Oak River Game Land (Onslow County): An 80-acre brackish impoundment and the permit-only Huggins and Morton tracts; green-winged teal, wood duck, wigeon and gadwall.
• Stones Creek Game Land (Onslow County)

Seasons, permits, draws and open days change from year to year, so check the state wildlife agency’s rules, linked below, before you go.

When Cape Fear Coast peaks

DuckCast’s season model puts the green-winged teal peak here around late December. The timing follows the statewide curve; what differs here is how many birds the model expects, below. That is a modelled typical curve, not a prediction for any single year. The actual push depends on cold fronts and freeze-up upstream, which is what the daily score tracks. Always confirm season dates with the state wildlife agency, linked below.

Which birds the model expects in Cape Fear Coast

In DuckCast’s season model, the species that can score highest in Cape Fear Coast are wood ducks, green-winged teal and gadwall. Against the state as a whole, it expects more scoters in Cape Fear Coast and fewer snow geese, green-winged teal, mallards and pintails.

Those weights come from harvest records, survey counts and the kind of water, not from a count taken here each season. They cap how high each species’ score can climb; the weather still has to bring the birds.

What DuckCast watches upstream of Cape Fear Coast

5 upstream stations feed this region's freeze line, nearest first: Back Bay, VA, about 190 miles northeast, Hog Island, VA, about 200 miles north, Fredericksburg, VA, about 270 miles north, Chincoteague, VA, about 285 miles northeast and Blackwater, MD, about 295 miles north. When those stations ice over, the score here starts climbing before anything changes in the local sky.

Radar over Cape Fear Coast

Each morning DuckCast reads the night’s NEXRAD data from KLTX, the National Weather Service radar at Wilmington, about 45 miles southwest of the region’s weather point. That puts the radar just outside the region, near enough to see birds lifting off and passing close by. Radar sees every bird in the air, not only ducks, so it confirms or questions the score rather than moving it.

Locations stay generalized

Hunter reports for Cape Fear Coast are always shown at the region level. DuckCast never collects or displays exact coordinates, so filing a report here never burns a spot.