Bird
Little Blue Heron
Egretta caerulea
Lives in Louisiana all year and nests here. Found in all 64 parishes, across 8 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 8

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 8
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Louisiana 8
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
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, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
Other habitats in its models (54)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana. Those recorded in Louisiana first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (34)
- 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 Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter.
- Cumberland Riverscour Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Florida Dry Prairie Winter, only within 250 m of water.
- Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation 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.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach Winter.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Winter.
- Southeast Florida Beach Winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Summer and winter.
- Southwest Florida Beach Winter.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
Northeast (3)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
Land cover and other classes (17)
- 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 Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Winter, only within 250 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Plain Dry Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Winter, only within 250 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Prairie and Woodland Winter, only within 250 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression Swamp Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
Seasons in Louisiana
- Year-round: nests here, in 34 of 64 parishes.
- Summer: nests here, in 45 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
Coastal dunes and beaches
Birds 139
- Black-throated Green WarblerDendroica virens
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Short-billed DowitcherLimnodromus griseus
- Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatus
- Black RailLaterallus jamaicensis
- Horned LarkEremophila alpestris
- Nelson's Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus nelsoni
- Purple MartinProgne subis
- Red KnotCalidris canutus
- Rock PigeonColumba livia
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
- Seaside SparrowAmmodramus maritimus
Plants 84
- Beach Morning-gloryIpomoea imperati
- Southern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia bombensis
- Mound-lily YuccaYucca gloriosa
- Northern Seabeach OrachAtriplex mucronata
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Pinewoods FingergrassEustachys petraea
- Sea OatsUniola paniculata
- Beach Evening-primroseOenothera drummondii
- Saltwater False-willowBaccharis angustifolia
- Gulf CrotonCroton punctatus
- CamphorweedHeterotheca subaxillaris
- Cottony Golden-asterChrysopsis gossypina
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Birds 179
- Black TernChlidonias niger
- Black-chinned HummingbirdArchilochus alexandri
- BobolinkDolichonyx oryzivorus
- Bronzed CowbirdMolothrus aeneus
- Black RailLaterallus jamaicensis
- Chestnut-sided WarblerDendroica pensylvanica
- DickcisselSpiza americana
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- Nelson's Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus nelsoni
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Rufous HummingbirdSelasphorus rufus
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
Plants 20
- Slender FimbryFimbristylis autumnalis
- Purple SpikerushEleocharis atropurpurea
- Blue MistflowerConoclinium coelestinum
- BagpodGlottidium vesicarium
- Tropical FlatsedgeCyperus surinamensis
- Blunt Spike RushEleocharis obtusa
- False DaisyEclipta prostrata
- Bristly SedgeCarex comosa
- Shortbeak BeaksedgeRhynchospora nitens
- Southern Marsh YellowcressRorippa teres
- Sensitive FernOnoclea sensibilis
- Ditch FimbryFimbristylis schoenoides
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Little Blue Heron
- 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)



























































