Pine Island Audubon Sanctuary

The Donal C. O’Brien, Jr. Sanctuary and Audubon Center at Pine Island is a 2600-acre nature preserve along the northern Outer Banks in Currituck County. The sanctuary protects marshland, maritime forest and sandy beaches and is home to a tremendous number of birds and other wildlife. The preserve has an educational campus for registered visitors as well as a 2.5-mile nature trail that is open to the public.

Directions:

From Nags Head, head north on US-158 west for about 11 miles and turn right onto NC-12 north. Go 12.2 miles and turn left on Audobon Drive. Make an immediate left on Racquet Club Drive and go 0.3 miles to the parking lot at the Pine Island Racquet & Fitness Center.

Map:

Trails:

Nature Trail:

A 2.5-mile nature trail leads through sanctuary that is open to the public for hiking and wildlife viewing.  The trail follows an old road between Duck and Corolla through a beautiful maritime forest with two overlooks on the sound.

Points of Interest:

Curtiuck Sound Overlooks:

There are two overlooks of Currituck Sound just off the nature trail.  The first overlook is about 3/4 mile from the north end of the trail.

The second overlook is just 0.1 miles from the south end of the trail.

Wildlife:

Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) is a common tree in the maritime forest.

Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)

Maryland meadowbeauty (Rhexia mariana)

Common wood-nymph (Cercyonis pegala)

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawn

Blog Entries:

03-Jul-2021: Pine Island

External Links:

Audubon website: https://pineisland.audubon.org/