Bird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Molothrus ater
Lives in Louisiana all year and nests here. Found in all 64 parishes, across 6 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 6

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 6
- Habitat models
- Year-round
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Louisiana 6
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
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.
Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Forested wetlands with standing water much of the year, such as cypress and gum swamps.
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 (55)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana.
- 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.
- Southern Coastal Plain Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Year-round.
- South Florida Hardwood Hammock 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.
- Florida Peninsula Inland Scrub 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.
- Florida Dry 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.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - 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.
- Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Year-round.
Seasons in Louisiana
- Year-round: nests here, in all 64 parishes.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 159
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Louisiana. Shared habitat, not food.
- Variable WitchgrassDichanthelium commutatum
- Forked Witchgrass; Cypress Panicgrass; Forked Witch Grass; Cypress Panic GrassDichanthelium dichotomum var. dichotomum
- Log FernDryopteris celsa
- Green-fly OrchidEpidendrum conopseum
- Carolina AshFraxinus caroliniana
- Bluntleaf BedstrawGalium obtusum
- Swamp JessamineGelsemium rankinii
- Wild GeraniumGeranium maculatum
- Honey LocustGleditsia triacanthos
- Roundfruit Hedge-hyssopGratiola virginiana
- American FeatherfoilHottonia inflata
- Shield Marsh-pennywortHydrocotyle verticillata
- Sarvis HollyIlex amelanchier
- Ilex opaca var. opacaIlex opaca var. opaca
- Spotted JewelweedImpatiens capensis
- Copper IrisIris fulva
- Catchfly CutgrassLeersia lenticularis
- Rice CutgrassLeersia oryzoides
- White CutgrassLeersia virginica
- Common DuckweedLemna minor
- Carolina GrasswortLilaeopsis carolinensis
- American Frog's-bitLimnobium spongia
- TuliptreeLiriodendron tulipifera
- Cylindric-fruit SeedboxLudwigia glandulosa
Wildlife 271
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Louisiana. Not sighting records.
- American CrowCorvus brachyrhynchos
- American GoldfinchCarduelis tristis
- American RobinTurdus migratorius
- Baltimore OrioleIcterus galbula
- Blue-gray GnatcatcherPolioptila caerulea
- Carolina WrenThryothorus ludovicianus
- Cedar WaxwingBombycilla cedrorum
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Common GrackleQuiscalus quiscula
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Common YellowthroatGeothlypis trichas
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- Eastern TowheePipilo erythrophthalmus
- European StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Fish CrowCorvus ossifragus
- Great Crested FlycatcherMyiarchus crinitus
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Indigo BuntingPasserina cyanea
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- Northern ParulaParula americana
- Orchard OrioleIcterus spurius
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
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)








































