Bird
Canada Goose
Branta canadensis
Lives in Alabama all year and nests here. Found in all 67 counties, across 14 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 14

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 14
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Alabama 14
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.



Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
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.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
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.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
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 (89)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Alabama.
- Developed, Low Intensity Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Developed, Medium Intensity Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
- Barren Land Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Sandy Beach Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Sandy Beach Winter.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Winter.
- Louisiana Beach Winter.
- Southeast Florida Beach Winter.
- Great Lakes Dune Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Winter.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Winter.
- East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
- East-Central Texas Plains Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer and winter.
- Central Mixedgrass Prairie Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- North-Central Interior Sand and Gravel Tallgrass Prairie Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Central Tallgrass Prairie Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Southeastern Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Winter.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- South Texas Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
- Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Recently Logged Areas Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Recently Burned Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Recently Burned Forest Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Recently Burned Grassland Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and 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.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems 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.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh 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.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Summer and winter.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Bog and Fen Summer and winter.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Summer and winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain 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.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
- Eastern Great Plains 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 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.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer and winter.
- Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
Seasons in Alabama
- Year-round: nests here, in all 67 counties.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 2 of 67 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 689
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Alabama. Shared habitat, not food.
- Red MapleAcer rubrum
- TitiCyrilla racemiflora
- Common WaxmyrtleMorella cerifera
- Swamp TupeloNyssa biflora
- ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis
- SweetgumLiquidambar styraciflua
- TuliptreeLiriodendron tulipifera
- Sweetbay MagnoliaMagnolia virginiana
- Golden-clubOrontium aquaticum
- Royal FernOsmunda spectabilis
- SwitchgrassPanicum virgatum
- Lizard's-tailSaururus cernuus
- Common Three Square BulrushSchoenoplectus pungens
- Serenoa repensSerenoa repens
- Pond CypressTaxodium ascendens
- Bald CypressTaxodium distichum
- Hazel AlderAlnus serrulata
- Asclepias viridulaAsclepias viridula
- False NettleBoehmeria cylindrica
- Trumpet-creeperCampsis radicans
- Bladder SedgeCarex intumescens
- American HornbeamCarpinus caroliniana
- Atlantic White CedarChamaecyparis thyoides
- Cliftonia monophyllaCliftonia monophylla
Wildlife 255
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Alabama. Not sighting records.
- Ruddy DuckOxyura jamaicensis
- Rusty BlackbirdEuphagus carolinus
- Short-eared OwlAsio flammeus
- White-faced IbisPlegadis chihi
- Alder FlycatcherEmpidonax alnorum
- Barn SwallowHirundo rustica
- Black VultureCoragyps atratus
- Blue GrosbeakPasserina caerulea
- Blue-gray GnatcatcherPolioptila caerulea
- Bonaparte's GullChroicocephalus philadelphia
- Carolina WrenThryothorus ludovicianus
- Caspian TernHydroprogne caspia
- Cedar WaxwingBombycilla cedrorum
- Chestnut-sided WarblerDendroica pensylvanica
- Chipping SparrowSpizella passerina
- Common TernSterna hirundo
- Dark-eyed JuncoJunco hyemalis
- DunlinCalidris alpina
- Eastern PhoebeSayornis phoebe
- Eastern Screech-owlMegascops asio
- Eastern Wood-peweeContopus virens
- Gray KingbirdTyrannus dominicensis
- Laughing GullLeucophaeus atricilla
- Least TernSternula antillarum
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 Canada Goose
- 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)












































