Bird
American Bittern
Botaurus lentiginosus
A winter visitor to Alabama, found in all 67 counties and 9 habitats.
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 9

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 9
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Alabama 9
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.
Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Other habitats in its models (47)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Alabama.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nepheline Syenite Glade Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Heathland and Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Winter.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Winter.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- South Texas Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- Recently Logged Areas Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Recently Burned Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Recently Burned Forest Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Recently Burned Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Modified/Managed Southern Tall Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Winter.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
Seasons in Alabama
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 54 of 67 counties.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 25 of 67 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 111
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Alabama. Shared habitat, not food.
- Common WaxmyrtleMorella cerifera
- Fuirena scirpoideaFuirena scirpoidea
- Saltmeadow CordgrassSporobolus pumilus
- Groundsel-treeBaccharis halimifolia
- Largeleaf PennywortHydrocotyle bonariensis
- Yaupon HollyIlex vomitoria
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Panicum amarum var. amarulumPanicum amarum var. amarulum
- SwitchgrassPanicum virgatum
- KnotgrassPaspalum distichum
- Tall JointweedPolygonella gracilis
- Sand Live OakQuercus geminata
- Live OakQuercus virginiana
- Common Three Square BulrushSchoenoplectus pungens
- Serenoa repensSerenoa repens
- Seashore DropseedSporobolus virginicus
- Red MapleAcer rubrum
- Agalinis filicaulisAgalinis filicaulis
- Virginia Chain-fernAnchistea virginica
- Pinewoods BluestemAndropogon arctatus
- Bushy BluestemAndropogon glomeratus
- Aristida beyrichianaAristida beyrichiana
- Asclepias viridulaAsclepias viridula
- American BlueheartsBuchnera americana
Wildlife 243
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Alabama. Not sighting records.
- Tufted TitmouseBaeolophus bicolor
- Vesper SparrowPooecetes gramineus
- Western MeadowlarkSturnella neglecta
- Western Snowy PloverCharadrius nivosus nivosus
- White-crowned SparrowZonotrichia leucophrys
- Wild TurkeyMeleagris gallopavo
- Wilson's PloverCharadrius wilsonia
- Wood DuckAix sponsa
- Yellow-rumped WarblerDendroica coronata
- Alder FlycatcherEmpidonax alnorum
- Black TernChlidonias niger
- Black-billed CuckooCoccyzus erythropthalmus
- Blue-gray GnatcatcherPolioptila caerulea
- Brown-headed NuthatchSitta pusilla
- Buff-bellied HummingbirdAmazilia yucatanensis
- BuffleheadBucephala albeola
- Carolina WrenThryothorus ludovicianus
- Cedar WaxwingBombycilla cedrorum
- Chestnut-sided WarblerDendroica pensylvanica
- Common GoldeneyeBucephala clangula
- DickcisselSpiza americana
- Eastern BluebirdSialia sialis
- Hairy WoodpeckerPicoides villosus
- House FinchCarpodacus mexicanus
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for American Bittern
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)



































