Bird

American Coot

Fulica americana

Lives in Alabama all year and nests here. Found in all 67 counties, across 11 habitats.

Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 67 counties
Habitats: 11

Adult American Coot, whole bird — **Adult**. (c) Marcel_Pepin, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 363880223. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 67 counties
Habitats: 11
Habitat models: Summer, Winter

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in Alabama 11

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 11

SummerWinterOpen Water (Fresh)Regional / representative. Shown: Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia; representative pond ecosystem, a neighboring state.Georgia pond and emergent wetland, Robert 'Bob' Hynes, 1997. Public domain. Source record.

SummerWinterSouthern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier; Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall; East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp; Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Swamp Systems; Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp; Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression SwampRegional / representative. Shown: Southern coastal swamps, Florida to Virginia; state not identified, a neighboring state.Loblolly bay in a coastal swamp, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.

SummerWinterUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland

Coastal Plain hammocks

Dense, evergreen groves of live oak, magnolia and other hardwoods in the southern Coastal Plain, from dry oak domes to wet hydric hammocks and south Florida's tropical hammocks; salt-shaped maritime hammocks are maritime forests.

SummerWinterSouthern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock

Coastal Plain seepage bogs

Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.

SummerWinterSouthern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog

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.

Winter

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

SummerWinterSouth-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian; East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest; Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

WinterMississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh

Sounds, bays and tidal flats

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.

WinterOpen Water (Brackish/Salt)

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.

SummerWinterBeside its main habitat.

Streams, rivers and their banks

Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.

SummerWinterBeside its main habitat.Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian

Other habitats in its models (34)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Alabama.

Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
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.
Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter.
Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
South Florida Mangrove Swamp Winter.
South Florida Bayhead Swamp Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer and winter.
South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Summer and winter.
Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Summer and winter.
South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Winter, beside its main habitat.
Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Summer and winter, only within 250 m of water.