Bird
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Dendrocygna autumnalis
Lives in Louisiana all year and nests here. Found in all 64 parishes, across 9 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 9

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 9
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Louisiana 9
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
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.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
Places where groundwater keeps the soil or rock wet, such as seepage slopes and spring runs.
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.
Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
Other habitats in its models (39)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana. Those recorded in Louisiana first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (26)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp 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 Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- South Florida Bayhead Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Cypress Dome Summer and winter.
- South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter.
- South Florida Mangrove Swamp 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.
Northeast (2)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
West (1)
- North American Arid West Emergent Marsh Summer and winter.
Land cover and other classes (10)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
- 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.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier 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 Nupea Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Summer and winter.
Seasons in Louisiana
- Year-round: nests here, in 30 of 64 parishes.
- Summer: nests here, in 48 of 64 parishes.
Food plants
Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Plants matched by genus.
Native plants in these genera 9
- Creeping River GrassEchinochloa polystachya
- American Barnyard-grassEchinochloa muricata
- Coast Cockspur-grassEchinochloa walteri
- Kidneyleaf Mud-plantainHeteranthera reniformis
- Water StargrassHeteranthera dubia
- Blue Mud PlantainHeteranthera limosa
- Mississippi Mud-plantainHeteranthera missouriensis
- Erect KnotweedPolygonum erectum
- Tall KnotweedPolygonum ramosissimum
Plant genera in its diet records (6)
- Cynodon Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Louisiana
- Echinochloa 1 diet record. 3 native plants in Louisiana
- Heteranthera Seeds. 1 diet record. 4 native plants in Louisiana
- Polygonum Seeds. 1 diet record. 2 native plants in Louisiana
- Sorghum Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Louisiana
- Zea Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Louisiana
Also found in its main habitats
Its main habitats in Louisiana, 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.
Swamps
Birds 118
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
- Wilson's PloverCharadrius wilsonia
- Eurasian WigeonAnas penelope
- Northern ParulaParula americana
- Rose-breasted GrosbeakPheucticus ludovicianus
- Glossy IbisPlegadis falcinellus
- Kentucky WarblerOporornis formosus
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Northern Saw-whet OwlAegolius acadicus
- Prothonotary WarblerProtonotaria citrea
- Reddish EgretEgretta rufescens
- Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpres
Plants 237
- Black Highbush BlueberryVaccinium fuscatum
- Dahoon HollyIlex cassine
- May HawthornCrataegus aestivalis
- Dense-flower SmartweedPersicaria densiflora
- Carolina AshFraxinus caroliniana
- Water HickoryCarya aquatica
- Swamp TupeloNyssa biflora
- Bent SedgeCarex styloflexa
- Cypress-swamp SedgeCarex joorii
- Dark-green SedgeCarex venusta
- Fringed SedgeCarex crinita
- Ravenfoot SedgeCarex crus-corvi
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Birds 107
- Black-chinned HummingbirdArchilochus alexandri
- VeeryCatharus fuscescens
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Willow FlycatcherEmpidonax traillii
- Worm-eating WarblerHelmitheros vermivorum
- Bell's VireoVireo bellii
- Northern ParulaParula americana
- Broad-winged HawkButeo platypterus
- Kentucky WarblerOporornis formosus
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Northern Saw-whet OwlAegolius acadicus
- Prothonotary WarblerProtonotaria citrea
Plants 267
- Elliott's BlueberryVaccinium elliottii
- Possumhaw HollyIlex decidua
- Cherrybark OakQuercus pagoda
- Shagbark HickoryCarya ovata
- PondberryLindera melissifolia
- Blunt Broom SedgeCarex tribuloides
- Louisiana SedgeCarex louisianica
- Smooth Hedge-nettleStachys tenuifolia
- Common Cup-plantSilphium perfoliatum
- Heartleaf NettleUrtica chamaedryoides
- Clustered FescueFestuca paradoxa
- American BladdernutStaphylea trifolia
Pine flatwoods
Birds 65
- Burrowing OwlAthene cunicularia
- Bachman's SparrowAimophila aestivalis
- Red-cockaded WoodpeckerPicoides borealis
- Brown-headed NuthatchSitta pusilla
- Bewick's WrenThryomanes bewickii
- Dark-eyed JuncoJunco hyemalis
- Northern WaterthrushSeiurus noveboracensis
- Pine WarblerDendroica pinus
- Barred OwlStrix varia
- White-breasted NuthatchSitta carolinensis
- Wood ThrushHylocichla mustelina
- Northern BobwhiteColinus virginianus
Plants 106
- Savanna Yellow-eyed-grassXyris flabelliformis
- Dwarf MilkwortSenega nana
- Dwarf Live OakQuercus minima
- Slash PinePinus elliottii
- Shining FetterbushLyonia lucida
- Pineland St. John's-wortHypericum suffruticosum
- Roundpod St. John's-wortHypericum cistifolium
- Slimleaf Tick-trefoilDesmodium tenuifolium
- Camphor PlucheaPluchea camphorata
- Clasping-leaf St. John's-wortHypericum gymnanthum
- Savanna SeedboxLudwigia virgata
- Seaside SeedboxLudwigia maritima
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
- 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)
- Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab) (CC0 1.0), diet records by plant genus
































































