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Bird

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Polioptila caerulea

A summer resident that nests in Arkansas. Found in all 75 counties, across 12 habitats.

Here
Summer
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 75 counties
Habitats
12

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Summer
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 75 counties
Habitats
12
Habitat models
Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in Arkansas 12

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

1 of 12

Swamps

The Land of Evangeline
SummerWinterWest Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall; Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier; Mississippi River Bottomland DepressionJoseph Rusling Meeker, The Land of Evangeline (1874): moss-hung trees over a still bayou in Louisiana swamp forest. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Shown: Louisiana bayou country (Meeker, The Land of Evangeline, 1874), a neighboring state.The Land of Evangeline, Joseph Rusling Meeker, 1874. Public domain. Source record.

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.

SummerWinter

Dry forests and woodlands

Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.

SummerWinterOzark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland; Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland; Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland

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 Floodplain Systems; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; Mississippi River Riparian Forest; Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest; West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest; West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest; Red River Large Floodplain Forest; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian; Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest; South-Central Interior Large Floodplain; Ozark-Ouachita Riparian

Forest edges and thickets

Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.

SummerWinterDisturbed/Successional - Shrub Regeneration; Harvested Forest - Shrub Regeneration

Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone

Open, thin-soil openings and rock on limestone, dolomite or other lime-rich rock, including cedar glades.

SummerWinterCentral Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens

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.

SummerWinterWest Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods; Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods; West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods

Moderately dry forests

Forests between dry and moist, often oak-hickory on slopes.

SummerWinterOzark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest; Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Dry-Mesic Loess Slope Forest

Moist forests

Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.

SummerWinterSouthern Crowley's Ridge Mesic Loess Slope Forest; West Gulf Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood Forest; Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

SummerWinterDisturbed, Non-specific

Streams, rivers and their banks

Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.

SummerWinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian

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.

SummerWinterDeciduous Plantation; Evergreen Plantation or Managed Pine; Managed Tree Plantation
Other habitats in its models (131)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Arkansas. Those recorded in Arkansas first, the rest by region.

In Arkansas 5

  • Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
  • Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Summer and winter.
  • Northern Crowley's Ridge Sand Forest Summer.
  • Ouachita Montane Oak Forest Summer and winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
Elsewhere in the South (66)
  • Appalachian Shale Barrens Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood and Mixed Forest Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer and winter.
  • Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
  • Central and Southern Appalachian Montane Oak Forest Summer and winter.
  • Central and Southern Appalachian Northern Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
  • Central Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
  • Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer and winter.
  • Cumberland Riverscour Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Limestone Forest Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Summer.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loblolly-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loess Bluff Forest Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Mesic Slope Forest Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
  • East-Central Texas Plains Pine Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
  • East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Summer and winter.
  • East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
  • Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Summer and winter.
  • Mississippi Delta Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
  • Ridge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and Woodland Summer.
  • South Florida Bayhead Swamp Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Cypress Dome Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Hardwood Hammock Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer and winter.
  • South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Summer and winter.
  • South-Central Interior Mesophytic Forest Summer and winter.
  • Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Summer and winter.
  • Southern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest Summer and winter.
  • Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest Summer and winter.
  • Southern Appalachian Northern Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress Dome Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Oak Dome and Hammock Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer and winter.
  • Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer and winter.
  • Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest Summer and winter.
  • Southern Piedmont Mesic Forest Summer and winter.
  • Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
  • Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest Summer and winter.
  • Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Summer and winter.
  • Tamaulipan Calcareous Thornscrub Winter, only within 120 m of water.
  • Tamaulipan Mixed Deciduous Thornscrub Winter, only within 120 m of water.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Chenier and Upper Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer and winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
  • Western Great Plains Mesquite Woodland and Shrubland Winter, only within 120 m of water.
Northeast (13)
  • Acadian-Appalachian Subalpine Woodland and Heath-Krummholz Summer and winter.
  • Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
  • Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Summer and winter.
  • Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest Summer and winter.
  • Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Summer and winter.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Alkaline Conifer-Hardwood Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Northern Hardwoods Forest Summer and winter.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Northern Pine-(Oak) Forest Summer and winter.
  • North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer and winter.
  • Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer and winter.
  • Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
  • Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
Midwest (7)
  • North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Summer and winter.
  • North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
  • North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
  • North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Summer and winter.
  • North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Summer and winter.
  • North-Central Oak Barrens Summer and winter.
  • Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Summer.
Land cover and other classes (40)
  • Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Hardwood Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Summer and winter.
  • Boreal Acidic Peatland Systems Summer and winter.
  • Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
  • Developed, Low Intensity 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 - Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Hardwood Modifier Summer.
  • Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
  • Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Swamp Systems Summer and winter.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Treed Summer and winter.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Swamp Systems Summer and winter.
  • Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest - Xeric Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Hardwood 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.
  • Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Tamaulipan Mesquite Upland Scrub Winter, only within 120 m of water.
  • Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Summer and winter.
  • Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in Arkansas

  • Summer: nests here, in all 75 counties.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in Arkansas, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher uses many habitats in Arkansas; these are its 3 most characteristic.

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Birds 98

Plants 313

All of floodplain and bottomland forests in Arkansas

Swamps

Birds 80

Plants 223

All of swamps in Arkansas

Dry forests and woodlands

Birds 37

Plants 152

All of dry forests and woodlands in Arkansas

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources