Bird
Hooded Merganser
Lophodytes cucullatus
Lives in Louisiana all year and nests here. Found in all 64 parishes, across 10 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 10

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 10
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Louisiana 10
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
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.
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.
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.
Forests between dry and moist, often oak-hickory on slopes.
Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.
Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
Other habitats in its models (144)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana. Those recorded in Louisiana first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (75)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood and Mixed Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- 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 Dune and Maritime Grassland Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Winter.
- Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Montane Oak Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Northern Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Spruce-Fir Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Central Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
- Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Central Interior Highlands Dry Acidic Glade and Barrens Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Cumberland Riverscour Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Limestone Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- East-Central Texas Plains Pine Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer.
- Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Summer.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Northern Crowley's Ridge Sand Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Ouachita Montane Oak Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Ridge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- South Florida Bayhead Swamp Winter.
- South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Flatwoods Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Summer.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain Summer.
- South-Central Interior Mesophytic Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian Summer and winter.
- Southeastern Interior Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Bog and Fen Summer and winter.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Appalachian Low Mountain Pine Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Appalachian Montane Pine Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Oak Dome and Hammock Summer.
- Southern Crowley's Ridge Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Piedmont Mesic Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
- Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
Northeast (11)
- Acadian Low-Elevation Spruce-Fir-Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Winter.
- Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer.
- Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
Midwest (5)
- North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Summer, only within 60 m of water.
Land cover and other classes (53)
- Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Hardwood Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Pine Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-Line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- 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.
- Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems Summer.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems Summer.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Plain Dry Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- 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.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest - Offsite Pine Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Juniper Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Open Understory Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Virginia/Pitch Pine Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest - Xeric Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Summer.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Loblolly Pine Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression Swamp Summer.
- Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest - Pine modifier Summer, only within 60 m of water.
- Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.
Seasons in Louisiana
- Year-round: nests here, in 62 of 64 parishes.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 16 of 64 parishes.
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 135
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
- Wilson's PloverCharadrius wilsonia
- Eurasian WigeonAnas penelope
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Northern ParulaParula americana
- Prothonotary WarblerProtonotaria citrea
- Rose-breasted GrosbeakPheucticus ludovicianus
- Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpres
- Acadian FlycatcherEmpidonax virescens
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
- DunlinCalidris alpina
- Glossy IbisPlegadis falcinellus
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 124
- Black-chinned HummingbirdArchilochus alexandri
- VeeryCatharus fuscescens
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Willow FlycatcherEmpidonax traillii
- Worm-eating WarblerHelmitheros vermivorum
- Bell's VireoVireo bellii
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Northern ParulaParula americana
- Prothonotary WarblerProtonotaria citrea
- Acadian FlycatcherEmpidonax virescens
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
- Broad-winged HawkButeo platypterus
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
Ponds, lakes and their shores
Birds 91
- Black TernChlidonias niger
- BuffleheadBucephala albeola
- Common GoldeneyeBucephala clangula
- Snowy PloverCharadrius nivosus
- Western Snowy PloverCharadrius nivosus nivosus
- Interior Least TernSternula antillarum athalassos
- Purple MartinProgne subis
- Black SkimmerRynchops niger
- Cackling GooseBranta hutchinsii
- Eurasian WigeonAnas penelope
- Greater ScaupAythya marila
- Ross's GooseChen rossii
Plants 162
- Mudbank CrowngrassPaspalum dissectum
- Clasping-leaf PondweedPotamogeton perfoliatus
- Loose Water-milfoilMyriophyllum laxum
- Slim SpikerushEleocharis elongata
- Viviparous SpikerushEleocharis vivipara
- Common BladderwortUtricularia macrorhiza
- Leafy BladderwortUtricularia foliosa
- Myrtle HollyIlex myrtifolia
- Water TupeloNyssa aquatica
- Peelbark St. John's-wortHypericum fasciculatum
- Southern Marsh St. John's-wortTriadenum tubulosum
- Warty SedgeCarex verrucosa
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Hooded Merganser
- 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)





















































