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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.

1 of 6

Swamps

The Land of Evangeline
Year-roundLower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest ModifierJoseph 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. Louisiana bayou country (Meeker, The Land of Evangeline, 1874)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.

Year-round

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

Year-roundMississippi River Riparian Forest; Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest; Red River Large Floodplain Forest; Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest

Forest edges and thickets

Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.

Year-roundDisturbed/Successional - Shrub Regeneration; Successional Shrub/Scrub (Other); Harvested Forest - Shrub Regeneration

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

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

Year-roundDeveloped, Open Space; Pasture/Hay; Disturbed/Successional - Grass/Forb Regeneration; Utility Swath - Herbaceous; Ruderal Upland - Old Field

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.

Year-roundDeciduous Plantation; Evergreen Plantation or Managed Pine; Managed Tree Plantation
Other habitats in its models (55)

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

Elsewhere in the South (24)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
  • Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Year-round.
  • Central Interior Highlands Dry Acidic Glade and Barrens Year-round.
  • Cumberland Sandstone Glade and Barrens Year-round.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Limestone Forest Year-round.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
  • Florida Dry Prairie Year-round.
  • Florida Peninsula Inland Scrub Year-round.
  • Nashville Basin Limestone Glade Year-round.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Year-round.
  • Ridge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and Woodland Year-round.
  • South Florida Hardwood Hammock Year-round.
  • South-Central Interior Large Floodplain Year-round.
  • South-Central Interior Mesophytic Forest Year-round.
  • South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian Year-round.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Year-round.
  • Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round.
  • Southern Piedmont Glade and Barrens Year-round.
  • Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest Year-round.
  • Western Great Plains Mesquite Woodland and Shrubland Year-round.
Northeast (1)
  • Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Year-round.
Midwest (2)
  • Central Mixedgrass Prairie Year-round.
  • North-Central Oak Barrens Year-round.
Land cover and other classes (28)
  • Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Hardwood Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Year-round.
  • Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems Year-round.
  • Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems Year-round.
  • Developed, Low Intensity Year-round.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Year-round.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Prairie and Woodland Year-round.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Year-round.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round.
  • Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.
  • Eastern Highland Rim Prairie and Barrens - Dry Modifier Year-round.
  • Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Year-round.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Year-round.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Year-round.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Year-round.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Year-round.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Shrub Year-round.
  • Orchards Vineyards and Other High Structure Agriculture Year-round.
  • Recently Burned Year-round.
  • Recently Burned Forest Year-round.
  • Recently Burned Grassland Year-round.
  • Recently Burned Shrubland Year-round.
  • Recently Logged Areas Year-round.
  • South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier Year-round.
  • South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round.
  • Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Year-round.
  • Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.

All habitats

Seasons in Louisiana

  • Year-round: nests here, in all 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 231

Plant genera in its diet records (31)
  • Sorghum 12 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
  • Zea 6 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
  • Alopecurus 5 diet records. 1 native plant in Louisiana
  • Ambrosia 5 diet records. 4 native plants in Louisiana
  • Chenopodium 5 diet records. 3 native plants in Louisiana
  • Murdannia 5 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
  • Amaranthus 4 diet records. 5 native plants in Louisiana
  • Helianthus 4 diet records. 16 native plants in Louisiana
  • Paspalum 4 diet records. 13 native plants in Louisiana
  • Panicum 3 diet records. 12 native plants in Louisiana
  • Avena 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
  • Digitaria 2 diet records. 2 native plants in Louisiana
  • Eleusine 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
  • Polygonum 2 diet records. 2 native plants in Louisiana
  • Setaria 2 diet records. 3 native plants in Louisiana
  • Sporobolus 2 diet records. 12 native plants in Louisiana
  • Triticum 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
  • Acalypha 1 diet record. 4 native plants in Louisiana
  • Andropogon 1 diet record. 8 native plants in Louisiana
  • Barbarea 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Louisiana
  • Carex 1 diet record. 84 native plants in Louisiana
  • Cyperus 1 diet record. 32 native plants in Louisiana
  • Echinochloa 1 diet record. 3 native plants in Louisiana
  • Hedeoma 1 diet record. 2 native plants in Louisiana
  • Lespedeza 1 diet record. 8 native plants in Louisiana
  • Oryza 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Louisiana
  • Scirpus 1 diet record. 5 native plants in Louisiana
  • Secale 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Louisiana
  • Solanum 1 diet record. 4 native plants in Louisiana
  • Vitis 1 diet record. 7 native plants in Louisiana
  • Xanthium 1 diet record. 1 native plant in Louisiana

Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab), CC0 1.0.

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.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Birds 153

Plants 958

All of roadsides, fields and disturbed ground in Louisiana

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Birds 124

Plants 267

All of floodplain and bottomland forests in Louisiana

Forest edges and thickets

Birds 90

Plants 131

All of forest edges and thickets in Louisiana

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources