Bird
Red-breasted Merganser
Mergus serrator
A winter visitor to Alabama, found in all 67 counties and 6 habitats.
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 6

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 6
- Habitat models
- Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Alabama 6
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.
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.
Other habitats in its models (16)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Alabama.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach 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.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
Seasons in Alabama
- Migratory: does not nest here, in all 67 counties.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 2 of 67 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 50
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Alabama. Shared habitat, not food.
- Engler's BogbuttonsLachnocaulon engleri
- Small's BogbuttonLachnocaulon minus
- PondberryLindera melissifolia
- Fragrant Water-lilyNymphaea odorata
- Panicum amarum var. amarulumPanicum amarum var. amarulum
- KnotgrassPaspalum distichum
- Seashore CrowngrassPaspalum vaginatum
- Tall JointweedPolygonella gracilis
- Sand Live OakQuercus geminata
- Live OakQuercus virginiana
- Starrush Whitetop SedgeRhynchospora colorata
- Spreading BeaksedgeRhynchospora divergens
- Southern BeaksedgeRhynchospora microcarpa
- Shortbeak BeaksedgeRhynchospora nitens
- Small's BeaksedgeRhynchospora pinetorum
- Olney's ThreesquareSchoenoplectus americanus
- Serenoa repensSerenoa repens
- Slender Sea-purslaneSesuvium maritimum
- Giant BristlegrassSetaria magna
- Saltmarsh CordgrassSporobolus alterniflorus
- Seashore DropseedSporobolus virginicus
- Stillingia aquaticaStillingia aquatica
- Southern CattailTypha domingensis
- Carolina Yellow-eyed-grassXyris caroliniana
Wildlife 218
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Alabama. Not sighting records.
- American AvocetRecurvirostra americana
- American BitternBotaurus lentiginosus
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CootFulica americana
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- American WigeonAnas americana
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Bank SwallowRiparia riparia
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Black-necked StiltHimantopus mexicanus
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Bonaparte's GullChroicocephalus philadelphia
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- CanvasbackAythya valisineria
- Caspian TernHydroprogne caspia
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Common TernSterna hirundo
- Forster's TernSterna forsteri
- GadwallAnas strepera
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Green HeronButorides virescens
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 Red-breasted Merganser Brackish or salt water only
- 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)


































