Bird
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Polioptila caerulea
Lives in Alabama all year and nests here. Found in all 67 counties, across 15 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 15

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 15
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Alabama 15
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone


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.
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.
Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Flat, poorly drained uplands and terraces with oaks, sweetgum and sometimes loblolly pine, wet in winter and dry in summer, but neither a floodplain nor a swamp.
Salt-pruned forests and shrub thickets behind coastal dunes.
Forests between dry and moist, often oak-hickory on slopes.
Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.
Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Tree plantations and managed pine
Planted or intensively managed stands of pine or hardwoods grown for timber; a land use rather than a natural community.
Other habitats in its models (119)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Alabama.
- Developed, Low Intensity Summer and winter.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Northern Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Hardwood Modifier Summer.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest - Xeric Summer and winter.
- Laurentian-Acadian Northern Hardwoods Forest Summer and winter.
- Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer and winter.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer and winter.
- Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
- Southern Appalachian Northern Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
- North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
- Ouachita Montane Oak Forest Summer and winter.
- North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Summer and winter.
- North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Summer and winter.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest Summer and winter.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Montane Oak Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loess Bluff Forest Summer and winter.
- South Florida Hardwood Hammock Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer and winter.
- Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Summer and winter.
- Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Summer and winter.
- Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Chenier and Upper Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Dry-Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer and winter.
- East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Summer and winter.
- East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland Summer and winter.
- Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Summer and winter.
- Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Summer and winter.
- Mississippi Delta Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Summer.
- Southern Crowley's Ridge Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Appalachian Shale Barrens Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
- Laurentian-Acadian Northern Pine-(Oak) Forest Summer and winter.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
- Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest Summer and winter.
- Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Summer and winter.
- Northern Crowley's Ridge Sand Forest Summer.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood and Mixed Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer and winter.
- East-Central Texas Plains Pine Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer.
- Acadian-Appalachian Subalpine Woodland and Heath-Krummholz Summer and winter.
- Tamaulipan Mixed Deciduous Thornscrub Winter, only within 120 m of water.
- Tamaulipan Mesquite Upland Scrub Winter, only within 120 m of water.
- Tamaulipan Calcareous Thornscrub Winter, only within 120 m of water.
- North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Summer and winter.
- North-Central Oak Barrens Summer and winter.
- Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Mesquite Woodland and Shrubland Winter, only within 120 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Treed Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Summer and winter.
- Laurentian-Acadian Swamp Systems Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
- Laurentian-Acadian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Bayhead Swamp Summer and winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Summer and winter.
- South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer and winter.
- Laurentian-Acadian Alkaline Conifer-Hardwood Swamp Summer and winter.
- Boreal Acidic Peatland Systems Summer and winter.
- Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- South Florida Cypress Dome Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
- Laurentian-Acadian Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
- Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Red River Large Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
- South Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- Central Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Summer and winter.
Seasons in Alabama
- Year-round: nests here, in 9 of 67 counties.
- Summer: nests here, in all 67 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 1009
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Alabama. Shared habitat, not food.
- Red MapleAcer rubrum
- SweetgumLiquidambar styraciflua
- TuliptreeLiriodendron tulipifera
- Poison-ivyToxicodendron radicans
- Pignut HickoryCarya glabra
- White AshFraxinus americana
- White OakQuercus alba
- American BeechFagus grandifolia
- Shagbark HickoryCarya ovata
- Flowering DogwoodCornus florida
- Virginia CreeperParthenocissus quinquefolia
- Water OakQuercus nigra
- Florida MapleAcer floridanum
- Northern SpicebushLindera benzoin
- BlackgumNyssa sylvatica
- Southern Red OakQuercus falcata
- Cherrybark OakQuercus pagoda
- Shumard OakQuercus shumardii
- Post OakQuercus stellata
- SupplejackBerchemia scandens
- Mockernut HickoryCarya tomentosa
- Mountain LaurelKalmia latifolia
- Sweetbay MagnoliaMagnolia virginiana
- Swamp TupeloNyssa biflora
Wildlife 245
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Alabama. Not sighting records.
- American CrowCorvus brachyrhynchos
- American GoldfinchCarduelis tristis
- American RobinTurdus migratorius
- Carolina WrenThryothorus ludovicianus
- Cedar WaxwingBombycilla cedrorum
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- Eastern TowheePipilo erythrophthalmus
- European StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
- Sharp-shinned HawkAccipiter striatus
- Turkey VultureCathartes aura
- Yellow-breasted ChatIcteria virens
- Black-and-White WarblerMniotilta varia
- Blue GrosbeakPasserina caerulea
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Chipping SparrowSpizella passerina
- Common GrackleQuiscalus quiscula
- Eastern Screech-owlMegascops asio
- Great Crested FlycatcherMyiarchus crinitus
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 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Elevation -47 to 1,219 m
- 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)

















































