Bird
Green Heron
Butorides virescens
Lives in Mississippi all year and nests here. Found in all 82 counties, across 10 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 82 counties
- Habitats
- 10

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 82 counties
- 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 Mississippi 10
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.
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.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Open, herb-covered wetlands with fresh, non-tidal water.
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.
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.
Forested wetlands with standing water much of the year, such as cypress and gum swamps.
Other habitats in its models (76)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Mississippi.
- Developed, Low Intensity Summer, only within 1,000 m of water.
- Developed, Medium Intensity Summer, only within 1,000 m of water.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Summer and winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Mangrove Swamp Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Bayhead Swamp Summer and winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Summer and winter.
- South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer and winter.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Bog and Fen Summer and winter.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Summer and winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer.
- South Florida Cypress Dome Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression Swamp Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems Summer and winter.
- Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Summer.
- Cumberland Riverscour Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Summer.
- Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Red River Large Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain Summer and winter.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer and winter.
- Central Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer and winter, only within 1,000 m of water.
- South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Summer.
Seasons in Mississippi
- Year-round: nests here, in 9 of 82 counties.
- Summer: nests here, in 79 of 82 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 419
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Mississippi. Shared habitat, not food.
- TitiCyrilla racemiflora
- Virginia SweetspireItea virginica
- SweetgumLiquidambar styraciflua
- Swamp TupeloNyssa biflora
- Red MapleAcer rubrum
- ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis
- Coastal Sweet-pepperbushClethra alnifolia
- Shining FetterbushLyonia lucida
- Sweetbay MagnoliaMagnolia virginiana
- Common WaxmyrtleMorella cerifera
- Pinus elliottii var. elliottiiPinus elliottii var. elliottii
- Bald CypressTaxodium distichum
- False NettleBoehmeria cylindrica
- SugarberryCeltis laevigata
- Atlantic White CedarChamaecyparis thyoides
- Cliftonia monophyllaCliftonia monophylla
- Green HawthornCrataegus viridis
- Eastern Swamp PrivetForestiera acuminata
- Green AshFraxinus pennsylvanica
- Possumhaw HollyIlex decidua
- PondberryLindera melissifolia
- Macranthera flammeaMacranthera flammea
- Water TupeloNyssa aquatica
- Pieris phillyreifoliaPieris phillyreifolia
Wildlife 250
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Mississippi. Not sighting records.
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Least SandpiperCalidris minutilla
- Snowy EgretEgretta thula
- Swamp SparrowMelospiza georgiana
- Tree SwallowTachycineta bicolor
- Yellow-crowned Night-heronNyctanassa violacea
- American CootFulica americana
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- CanvasbackAythya valisineria
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Horned GrebePodiceps auritus
- Little Blue HeronEgretta caerulea
- Mottled DuckAnas fulvigula
- Northern ShovelerAnas clypeata
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Purple GallinulePorphyrio martinica
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 Green Heron Elevation up to 750 m
- 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)










































