Audubon has purchased a 35.7 acre tract on Lea Island, one of the last undeveloped barrier islands in North Carolina. Thanks to a generous donation from Fred and Alice Stanback, the nonprofit organization purchased the property in a bargain sale from James Johnson of Coastland Corporation. The island is one of the most important havens for shorebirds and waterbirds in North Carolina, as well as an important nesting site for federally threatened loggerhead sea turtles. Audubon North Carolina will manage the tract as part of its coastal sanctuary system, consisting of 19 other island and inlet bird habitats along the coast. “Lea Island is one of the few undisturbed barrier islands left in North Carolina,” said Walker Golder, Acting Co-Executive Director of Audubon North Carolina. “This purchase brings us much closer to permanently protecting this increasingly rare habitat type.”

Located between Topsail and Figure Eight Islands, Lea Island is only accessible by boat and has never been affected by the intensive development found on many of North Carolina’s barrier islands. The island has escaped the impacts of off-road vehicles and hardened structures, and its beaches are not replenished with dredged sand. It has the natural features and plant communities characteristic of an untrammeled barrier island, as well as the wildlife.

During the spring and summer, the island is a haven for nesting shorebirds such as Piping Plover, Wilson’s Plover, and American Oystercatcher, and other nesting birds including Black Skimmer and Least Tern. The island represents the southernmost documented breeding site for Piping Plover, a federally threatened bird named for its melodic call. Clapper Rails nest in great numbers in the marshes bordering the island. Nelson’s Sparrow and Seaside Sparrow are abundant during the fall and winter and the island is recognized as a globally significant site for Saltmarsh Sparrow. At other times of year, numerous migrating and wintering shorebirds flock here, numbering a thousand or more during the peak of migration.

In 2004, the National Audubon Society identified Lea Island as a critical component of the Lea-Hutaff Important Bird Area. The 5,461-acre Important Bird Area includes the upland sandy beach of Lea and Hutaff Islands (now joined by the closure of Old Topsail Inlet) as well as an extensive marsh and tidal creek complex. The newly-protected tract is located in the middle of the upland beach portion of the island and spans the marsh to the ocean. The tract is important for nesting shorebirds and terns, migrating and wintering shorebirds, nesting sea turtles, and seabeach amaranth (a federally-threatened plant).

The island is a popular destination for beachgoers who enjoy shelling, walking, swimming, fishing, surfing, and wildlife viewing. Audubon biologists protect bird and sea turtle nesting sites during the spring and summer by roping off nesting areas and talking to island visitors about how people and dogs can inadvertently disturb nesting birds and sea turtles.

Lea Island is included in a new Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) that took place on December 19, 2010. The Holly Shelter & Lea-Hutaff Island CBC will become part of the longest running citizen science survey in the world. The conservation of Lea Island is part of a long-standing partnership between Audubon North Carolina, the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust, and the State of North Carolina, which established the Lea Island State Natural Area in 2003. The acquisition of this 35.7-acre tract nearly doubles the acreage already protected through this partnership.

 … from www.ncaudubon.org