Bird

Wood Duck

Aix sponsa

Names as given by USGS GAP.

Year-round in Alabama, breeding, in the USGS range maps. Its habitat models include 10 habitats found here.

Seasons here: Year-round
Breeding: Breeding
Range: 67 of 67 counties
Habitats: 10

Male Wood Duck, whole bird — **Male**. (c) Andrew Lai, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 597535322. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Seasons in Alabama: Year-round
Breeding: Breeding
Counties in known range: 67 of 67
Habitat models: Summer, Winter

Where it lives

Southeast habitat models (USGS, 2001 land cover). The bird is not in every place a habitat occurs. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models Summer model Winter model

Habitats in Alabama 10

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. Shared habitat, not food.

1 of 10

Summer and winterSouthern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea ModifierRegional / 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.

Summer and winterSouthern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier; Southern 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; Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp; Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress Dome; 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 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.

SummerSouthern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock

Coastal Plain seepage bogs

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

SummerSouthern 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.

Summer

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.

Summer and winter

Floodplain and bottomland forests

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

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

Hardwood and oak flatwoods

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.

SummerSouth-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods

Streams, rivers and their banks

Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.

Summer and winterCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; Cumberland Riverscour; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian

Other habitats in its models (51)

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

Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter
Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter
East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer
Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Summer
South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Flatwoods Summer. Only within 1,000 m of water, for banks or other nest sites
Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer
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
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
Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer
Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter
Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter
Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh 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 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
Southern and Central Appalachian Bog and Fen Summer
Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer
Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier 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
Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter
Central Appalachian Riparian - 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
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
North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer
Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Summer. Only within 1,000 m of water, for banks or other nest sites
West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Summer and winter