page_title: Figure Eight Island
section_title: Wildlife
hierarchical_section_title: Figure Eight Island / Wildlife
caption_attribution_description: English: Birds fishing in Rich Inlet, along the Figure 8 shore
context_page_description: Figure Eight Island is a barrier island in the U.S. state of North Carolina, just north of Wrightsville Beach, widely known as an affluent summer colony and vacation destination. The island is part of the Wilmington Metropolitan Area, and lies between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. As a private island, Figure Eight can only be reached by boat or via a guarded causeway swing bridge—the only private bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway in the Southeast.
  The island has been a destination for celebrities and politicians—including former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Senator John Edwards—and a summer residence for noted businessmen, including former CEO of Morgan Stanley, John J. Mack and textile executive William Johnston Armfield.
context_section_description: The local chapter of the National Audubon Society has recorded the presence of 104 different species of birds on Figure Eight. Most live in Rich Inlet, generally considered the southernmost nesting area for the critically endangered Great Lakes piping plover. In 2015, approximately 800 Least Tern nested on northern section of the island, making it the largest Least Tern colony in the state, and one of the largest on the Eastern seaboard. Other birds that nested there include American Oystercatchers, Common Terns, Black Skimmers, Piping Plovers, Wilson's Plovers and Willets. Savannah Sparrows, Atlantic Plovers, Greater Yellowlegs, and pelicans have been found in Mason Inlet to the south.
caption: Gulls fishing in Rich Inlet, along the Figure Eight shore
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