Bird
Northern Bobwhite
Colinus virginianus
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
- Year-round
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.
Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.
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.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Open, grass-dominated places kept open by fire, grazing or thin soil, from tallgrass prairie to Piedmont prairies.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Forest or woodland where the source does not say how moist or dry.
Salt-pruned forests and shrub thickets behind coastal dunes.
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 (84)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana. Those recorded in Louisiana first, the rest by region.
In Louisiana 3
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Catahoula Barrens Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Sandhill Oak and Shortleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round.
Elsewhere in the South (40)
- Appalachian Shale Barrens Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Maritime Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Year-round.
- Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
- Central Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Year-round.
- Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Year-round.
- Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- Central Interior Highlands Dry Acidic Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- Cumberland Sandstone Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Maritime Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Year-round.
- East-Central Texas Plains Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Year-round.
- Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Year-round.
- Florida Dry Prairie Year-round.
- Nashville Basin Limestone Glade Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Ridge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and Woodland Year-round.
- South Florida Hardwood Hammock Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Pine Rockland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southeastern Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Year-round.
- Southeastern Interior Longleaf Pine Woodland Year-round.
- Southern Appalachian Low Mountain Pine Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Appalachian Montane Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Blackland Tallgrass Prairie Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Oak Dome and Hammock Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Piedmont Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Year-round.
Northeast (4)
- Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Year-round.
- Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Year-round.
- Northeastern Interior Pine Barrens Year-round.
Midwest (6)
- Central Mixedgrass Prairie Year-round.
- Central Tallgrass Prairie Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Sand and Gravel Tallgrass Prairie Year-round.
- North-Central Oak Barrens Year-round.
- Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Year-round.
Land cover and other classes (31)
- Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Pine Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-Line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier 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 Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Plain Dry Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Prairie and Woodland Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest - Offsite Pine Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Juniper Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Year-round.
- Eastern Highland Rim Prairie and Barrens - Dry Modifier Year-round.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Open Understory Modifier Year-round.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Year-round.
- Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Year-round.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Year-round.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Year-round.
- Modified/Managed Southern Tall Grassland Year-round.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Virginia/Pitch Pine Modifier Year-round.
- Recently Burned Grassland Year-round.
- Recently Burned Shrubland Year-round.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Loblolly Pine Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest - Pine modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.
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 379
- Hairy LespedezaLespedeza hirta
- Slender LespedezaLespedeza virginica
- Trailing LespedezaLespedeza procumbens
- Creeping LespedezaLespedeza repens
- Roundhead LespedezaLespedeza capitata
- Tall LespedezaLespedeza stuevei
- Violet LespedezaLespedeza frutescens
- Wand LespedezaLespedeza violacea
- Croton argyranthemusCroton argyranthemus
- Narrowleaf RushfoilCroton michauxii
- Prairie-tea CrotonCroton monanthogynus
- Elliptical RushfoilCroton willdenowii
- Gulf CrotonCroton punctatus
- Lindheimer's CrotonCroton lindheimerianus
- Tooth Leaf Croton; Sand CrotonCroton glandulosus var. septentrionalis
- Tooth-leaved CrotonCroton glandulosus
- Woolly CrotonCroton capitatus
- McCree's MilkpeaGalactia volubilis
- Erect MilkpeaGalactia erecta
- American PlumPrunus americana
- Black CherryPrunus serotina
- Black CherryPrunus serotina var. serotina
- Carolina Laurel CherryPrunus caroliniana
- Chickasaw PlumPrunus angustifolia
Plant genera in its diet records (50)
- Lespedeza 18 diet records. 8 native plants in Louisiana
- Croton 15 diet records. 9 native plants in Louisiana
- Sorghum 10 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
- Galactia 9 diet records. 2 native plants in Louisiana
- Prunus 9 diet records. 8 native plants in Louisiana
- Glycine 8 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
- Urochloa 8 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
- Zea 8 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
- Chamaecrista 7 diet records. 4 native plants in Louisiana
- Quercus Seeds. 7 diet records. 31 native plants in Louisiana
- Vigna 7 diet records. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Geranium 6 diet records. 2 native plants in Louisiana
- Oxalis 6 diet records. 5 native plants in Louisiana
- Sassafras 6 diet records. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Triticum 6 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
- Ambrosia 5 diet records. 4 native plants in Louisiana
- Digitaria 5 diet records. 2 native plants in Louisiana
- Setaria 5 diet records. 3 native plants in Louisiana
- Panicum 4 diet records. 12 native plants in Louisiana
- Paspalum 4 diet records. 13 native plants in Louisiana
- Physalis Fruit. 4 diet records. 10 native plants in Louisiana
- Rhus 4 diet records. 5 native plants in Louisiana
- Vicia 4 diet records. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Carex 3 diet records. 84 native plants in Louisiana
- Centrosema 3 diet records. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Cyperus 3 diet records. 32 native plants in Louisiana
- Desmanthus 3 diet records. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Diodia 3 diet records. 2 native plants in Louisiana
- Krigia 3 diet records. 4 native plants in Louisiana
- Liquidambar 3 diet records. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Mimosa 3 diet records. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Polygonum 3 diet records. 2 native plants in Louisiana
- Rubus 3 diet records. 5 native plants in Louisiana
- Sesbania 3 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
- Zanthoxylum 3 diet records. 2 native plants in Louisiana
- Argemone 2 diet records. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Celtis Fruit. 2 diet records. 3 native plants in Louisiana
- Commelina 2 diet records. 5 native plants in Louisiana
- Descurainia 2 diet records. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Desmodium 2 diet records. 21 native plants in Louisiana
- Dichanthelium 2 diet records. 39 native plants in Louisiana
- Helianthus 2 diet records. 16 native plants in Louisiana
- Impatiens 2 diet records. 1 native plant in Louisiana
- Menodora 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Louisiana
- Pediomelum 2 diet records. 4 native plants in Louisiana
- Rhynchosia 2 diet records. 4 native plants in Louisiana
- Verbena 2 diet records. 4 native plants in Louisiana
- Viola 2 diet records. 13 native plants in Louisiana
- Bidens 1 diet record. 8 native plants in Louisiana
- Strophostyles 1 diet record. 3 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.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Birds 139
- Cape May WarblerDendroica tigrina
- Greater RoadrunnerGeococcyx californianus
- House SparrowPasser domesticus
- Inca DoveColumbina inca
- Long-eared OwlAsio otus
- Monk ParakeetMyiopsitta monachus
- Smith's LongspurCalcarius pictus
- Upland SandpiperBartramia longicauda
- Western Burrowing OwlAthene cunicularia hypugaea
- Rock PigeonColumba livia
- BobolinkDolichonyx oryzivorus
- Bronzed CowbirdMolothrus aeneus
Plants 958
- Muck SunflowerHelianthus simulans
- Canada LettuceLactuca canadensis
- Annual FleabaneErigeron annuus
- Common Evening-primroseOenothera biennis
- Cutleaf Evening-primroseOenothera laciniata
- Dog-fennelEupatorium capillifolium
- Threadleaf SundropsOenothera linifolia
- Carolina Crane's-billGeranium carolinianum
- Golden CrownbeardVerbesina encelioides
- Blackeyed SusanRudbeckia hirta var. pulcherrima
- Downy Ground-cherryPhysalis pubescens
- Gray Ground-cherryPhysalis grisea
Forest edges and thickets
Birds 80
- Spotted TowheePipilo maculatus
- VeeryCatharus fuscescens
- Blue-winged WarblerVermivora pinus
- Chestnut-sided WarblerDendroica pensylvanica
- Golden-winged WarblerVermivora chrysoptera
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- Rufous HummingbirdSelasphorus rufus
- Vesper SparrowPooecetes gramineus
- Willow FlycatcherEmpidonax traillii
- Alder FlycatcherEmpidonax alnorum
- Bell's VireoVireo bellii
- Black-billed CuckooCoccyzus erythropthalmus
Plants 131
- Southern DewberryRubus trivialis
- Buffalo CloverTrifolium reflexum
- Cutleaf GoldenrodSolidago arguta
- Hairy LettuceLactuca hirsuta
- Saltmarsh Morning-gloryIpomoea sagittata
- Earleaf GreenbrierSmilax auriculata
- Trailing LespedezaLespedeza procumbens
- Creeping LespedezaLespedeza repens
- Violet LespedezaLespedeza frutescens
- Wand LespedezaLespedeza violacea
- Hairy Small-leaf Tick-trefoilDesmodium ciliare
- Hoary Tick-trefoilDesmodium canescens
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
- Eastern BluebirdSialia sialis
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 year-round habitat model for Northern Bobwhite Elevation up to 975 m. Leaves out developed land
- 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


















































































