Bird
American Bittern
Botaurus lentiginosus
A winter visitor to Louisiana, found in all 64 parishes and 7 habitats.
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 7

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 7
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Louisiana 7
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.
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
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.
Open, grass-dominated places kept open by fire, grazing or thin soil, from tallgrass prairie to Piedmont prairies.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Other habitats in its models (49)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nepheline Syenite Glade Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Heathland and Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Winter.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Winter.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- South Texas Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- Recently Logged Areas Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Recently Burned Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Recently Burned Forest Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Recently Burned Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- Modified/Managed Southern Tall Grassland Winter, only within 500 m of water.
- 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.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Winter.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
Seasons in Louisiana
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 24 of 64 parishes.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 48 of 64 parishes.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 169
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Louisiana. Shared habitat, not food.
- Bushy BluestemAndropogon glomeratus
- SwitchgrassPanicum virgatum
- American BlueheartsBuchnera americana
- Little Tooth SedgeCarex microdonta
- Snow-on-the-prairieEuphorbia bicolor
- Hair-awn MuhlyMuhlenbergia capillaris
- Little BluestemSchizachyrium maritimum
- Yellow IndiangrassSorghastrum nutans
- Saltmeadow CordgrassSpartina patens
- Florida MapleAcer floridanum
- Chalk MapleAcer leucoderme
- Amsonia ludovicianaAmsonia ludoviciana
- Virginia Chain-fernAnchistea virginica
- Maritime BluestemAndropogon tenuispatheus
- Splitbeard BluestemAndropogon ternarius
- Arrowfeather Three-awnAristida purpurascens
- Butterfly MilkweedAsclepias tuberosa
- Groundsel-treeBaccharis halimifolia
- SupplejackBerchemia scandens
- White Doll's-daisyBoltonia asteroides
- Sideoats GramaBouteloua curtipendula
- Wild HyacinthCamassia scilloides
- Whitetinge SedgeCarex albicans
Wildlife 271
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Louisiana. Not sighting records.
- American AvocetRecurvirostra americana
- Bank SwallowRiparia riparia
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Greater YellowlegsTringa melanoleuca
- Mottled DuckAnas fulvigula
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
- Northern Rough-winged SwallowStelgidopteryx serripennis
- Ring-billed GullLarus delawarensis
- Tree SwallowTachycineta bicolor
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Bonaparte's GullChroicocephalus philadelphia
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- Fulvous Whistling-duckDendrocygna bicolor
- Greater White-fronted GooseAnser albifrons
- Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus
- Little GullHydrocoloeus minutus
- Long-billed DowitcherLimnodromus scolopaceus
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 American Bittern
- 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)






































