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Bird

Boat-tailed Grackle

Quiscalus major

Lives in Mississippi all year and nests here. Found in 6 of 82 counties, across 13 habitats.

Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
6 of 82 counties
Habitats
13

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
6 of 82 counties
Habitats
13
Habitat models
Year-round

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in Mississippi 13

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 13

Swamps

The Land of Evangeline
Year-roundSouthern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall; East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp; Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Swamp Systems; Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp; Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress Dome; Mississippi River Bottomland DepressionJoseph 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. Shown: Louisiana bayou country (Meeker, The Land of Evangeline, 1874), a neighboring state.The Land of Evangeline, Joseph Rusling Meeker, 1874. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.

Year-roundUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation; East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland; Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland

Coastal Plain seepage bogs

Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.

Year-roundSouthern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog

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.

Year-round

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; Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest

Freshwater marshes

Open, herb-covered wetlands with fresh, non-tidal water.

Year-roundSouthern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier

Pine savannas

Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.

Year-roundEast Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.

Year-roundOpen Water (Fresh)

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

Year-roundMississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh

Sounds, bays and tidal flats

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.

Year-roundOpen Water (Brackish/Salt)

Maritime forests and thickets

Salt-pruned forests and shrub thickets behind coastal dunes.

Year-roundOnly within 1,000 m of water.East Gulf Coastal Plain Maritime Forest

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

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

Year-roundOnly within 1,000 m of water.Developed, Open Space; Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay
Other habitats in its models (55)

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

Elsewhere in the South (37)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Maritime Forest Year-round, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Year-round, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Year-round.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Year-round.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Year-round.
  • Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Year-round.
  • Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round.
  • Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Year-round.
  • Louisiana Beach Year-round.
  • Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Year-round, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Mississippi Delta Maritime Forest Year-round, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • South Florida Bayhead Swamp Year-round.
  • South Florida Cypress Dome Year-round.
  • South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Year-round.
  • South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Year-round.
  • South Florida Mangrove Swamp Year-round.
  • South Florida Shell Hash Beach Year-round.
  • South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Year-round.
  • Southeast Florida Beach Year-round.
  • Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Year-round.
  • Southwest Florida Beach Year-round.
  • Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round.
  • Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
  • Texas Coastal Bend Beach Year-round.
  • Upper Texas Coast Beach Year-round.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Year-round.
Northeast (5)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Maritime Forest Year-round, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Sandy Beach Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Year-round.
  • Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Year-round.
Land cover and other classes (13)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Year-round.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Year-round.
  • Developed, Low Intensity Year-round, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Developed, Medium Intensity Year-round, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Modifier Year-round, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Year-round.
  • Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Year-round, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Year-round, only within 1,000 m of water.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Year-round.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Year-round.

All habitats

Seasons in Mississippi

  • Year-round: nests here, in 6 of 82 counties.

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 13

Plant genera in its diet records (6)
  • Zea Seeds. 6 diet records. 0 native plants in Mississippi
  • Brasenia Seeds. 4 diet records. 1 native plant in Mississippi
  • Sorghum Seeds. 4 diet records. 0 native plants in Mississippi
  • Lemna 2 diet records. 6 native plants in Mississippi
  • Morella Seeds. 2 diet records. 3 native plants in Mississippi
  • Hydrocotyle Seeds. 1 diet record. 3 native plants in Mississippi

Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab), CC0 1.0.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in Mississippi, 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 109

Plants 291

All of swamps in Mississippi

Coastal dunes and beaches

Birds 127

Plants 118

All of coastal dunes and beaches in Mississippi

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Birds 129

Plants 1094

All of roadsides, fields and disturbed ground in Mississippi

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources