Bird
Ruddy Duck
Oxyura jamaicensis
A winter visitor to Louisiana, found in all 64 parishes and 5 habitats.
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 5

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 5
- Habitat models
- Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Louisiana 5
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.
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.
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.
Other habitats in its models (28)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Winter.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems Winter.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain Winter.
Seasons in Louisiana
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 1 of 64 parishes.
- Winter: does not nest here, in all 64 parishes.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 35
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Louisiana. Shared habitat, not food.
- Virginia Chain-fernAnchistea virginica
- Bushy BluestemAndropogon glomeratus
- American BlueheartsBuchnera americana
- Shoreline SedgeCarex hyalinolepis
- ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis
- Erectleaf WitchgrassDichanthelium erectifolium
- Slim SpikerushEleocharis elongata
- Fimbristylis carolinianaFimbristylis caroliniana
- Fimbristylis castaneaFimbristylis castanea
- Fuirena scirpoideaFuirena scirpoidea
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- PondberryLindera melissifolia
- Common WaxmyrtleMorella cerifera
- Muhlenbergia capillaris var. filipesMuhlenbergia capillaris var. filipes
- Fragrant Water-lilyNymphaea odorata
- Panicum tenerumPanicum tenerum
- SwitchgrassPanicum virgatum
- KnotgrassPaspalum distichum
- Seashore CrowngrassPaspalum vaginatum
- Starrush Whitetop SedgeRhynchospora colorata
- Spreading BeaksedgeRhynchospora divergens
- Small's BeaksedgeRhynchospora globularis var. pinetorum
- Southern BeaksedgeRhynchospora microcarpa
- Shortbeak BeaksedgeRhynchospora nitens
Wildlife 236
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Louisiana. Not sighting records.
- American AvocetRecurvirostra americana
- American BitternBotaurus lentiginosus
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CootFulica americana
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Bank SwallowRiparia riparia
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Black-necked StiltHimantopus mexicanus
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Bonaparte's GullChroicocephalus philadelphia
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- CanvasbackAythya valisineria
- Caspian TernHydroprogne caspia
- Common LoonGavia immer
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Common TernSterna hirundo
- Eared GrebePodiceps nigricollis
- Forster's TernSterna forsteri
- Fulvous Whistling-duckDendrocygna bicolor
- GadwallAnas strepera
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great EgretArdea alba
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Ruddy Duck Slow streams only
- 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)




































