Bird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Molothrus ater
Lives in Florida all year and nests here. Found in all 67 counties, across 9 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 9

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 9
- Habitat models
- Year-round
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Florida 9
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.


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.
Evergreen scrub oaks, sand pine and rosemary on deep, white, drought-prone sand ridges, burned rarely but intensely; distinct from the longleaf and turkey oak sandhills.
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 (51)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Florida.
- Developed, Low Intensity Year-round.
- Orchards Vineyards and Other High Structure Agriculture Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Limestone Forest Year-round.
- Ridge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and Woodland Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round.
- Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Hardwood Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Year-round.
- Central Interior Highlands Dry Acidic Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Year-round.
- South-Central Interior Mesophytic Forest Year-round.
- North-Central Oak Barrens Year-round.
- Southern Piedmont Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- Nashville Basin Limestone Glade Year-round.
- Cumberland Sandstone Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- Western Great Plains Mesquite Woodland and Shrubland Year-round.
- Eastern Highland Rim Prairie and Barrens - Dry Modifier Year-round.
- Central Mixedgrass Prairie Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Prairie and Woodland Year-round.
- Recently Logged Areas Year-round.
- Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Year-round.
- Recently Burned Year-round.
- Recently Burned Forest Year-round.
- Recently Burned Grassland Year-round.
- Recently Burned Shrubland Year-round.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Shrub Year-round.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Year-round.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Year-round.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Year-round.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Year-round.
- Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Year-round.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems Year-round.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems Year-round.
- Mississippi River Riparian Forest Year-round.
- Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Year-round.
- Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Red River Large Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian Year-round.
- Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Year-round.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Year-round.
Seasons in Florida
- Year-round: does not nest here, in 30 of 67 counties.
- Year-round: nests here, in 45 of 67 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 426
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Florida. Shared habitat, not food.
- Gumbo LimboBursera simaruba
- Long Key LocustberryByrsonima lucida
- Clinopodium asheiCalamintha ashei
- Bearded Grass-pinkCalopogon barbatus
- Pale Grass-pinkCalopogon pallidus
- Pepper CinnamonCanella winterana
- Carex baltzelliiCarex baltzellii
- Chapman's SedgeCarex chapmannii
- Ravenfoot SedgeCarex crus-corvi
- Elliott's SedgeCarex elliottii
- Blue Wood SedgeCarex flaccosperma
- Bladder SedgeCarex intumescens
- Cypress-swamp SedgeCarex joorii
- Louisiana SedgeCarex louisianica
- Hop SedgeCarex lupulina
- Golden SedgeCarex lutea
- Sharp-scale SedgeCarex oxylepis
- Blunt Broom SedgeCarex tribuloides
- Bitternut HickoryCarya cordiformis
- Scrub HickoryCarya floridana
- Sand HickoryCarya pallida
- Mockernut HickoryCarya tomentosa
- Sevenyear AppleCasasia clusiifolia
- Ceratiola ericoidesCeratiola ericoides
Wildlife 267
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Florida. Not sighting records.
- American CrowCorvus brachyrhynchos
- American GoldfinchCarduelis tristis
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- Great Crested FlycatcherMyiarchus crinitus
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Indigo BuntingPasserina cyanea
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
- Turkey VultureCathartes aura
- Yellow-breasted ChatIcteria virens
- American RobinTurdus migratorius
- Baltimore OrioleIcterus galbula
- Chipping SparrowSpizella passerina
- Chuck-will's-widowCaprimulgus carolinensis
- Common GrackleQuiscalus quiscula
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Eastern Screech-owlMegascops asio
- Eastern TowheePipilo erythrophthalmus
- European StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Fish CrowCorvus ossifragus
- Mourning DoveZenaida macroura
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP year-round habitat model for Brown-headed Cowbird Elevation 0 to 1,066 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)








































