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Battery Island is a well-known avian landmark in southeastern North Carolina. For many years, this 100-acre Audubon Sanctuary has been the site of North Carolina’s largest gathering of breeding wading birds. Herons, egrets and ibises flock to the island by the thousands each spring. Since 1982, the island has been guarded and protected by the National Audubon Society.

Each year, 9,000-15,000 breeding pairs of white ibises, nearly all that nest in the state, and hundreds of breeding pairs of herons and egrets descend on the Sanctuary to nest and raise their young. The island has always been vital to North Carolina’s wading bird population and, recently, was designated as "globally important" for the great numbers of white ibises that nest on the island annually.

In 1996, for the first time ever, the Cape Fear Garden Club of Wilmington, NC stepped forward to officially adopt the sanctuary and assist with the protection and management of the island. Since 1996, the Cape Fear Garden Club has given more than $20,000 in support of this Audubon Sanctuary.

Battery Island is posted and patrolled throughout the year, and is entirely off-limits to visitors. Protecting the island, the nesting birds and their habitats is essential to the conservation of wading birds in our State.

In 2001, 15,463 breeding pairs of white ibises, nearly all that nest in the state, and 500 breeding pairs of 9 other species of wading birds descend on the Sanctuary to nest and raise their young.