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Bird

Indigo Bunting

Passerina cyanea

A summer resident that nests in Mississippi. Found in all 82 counties, across 12 habitats.

Here
Summer
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 82 counties
Habitats
12

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Summer
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 82 counties
Habitats
12
Habitat models
Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in Mississippi 12

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

1 of 12

Swamps

The Land of Evangeline
SummerSouthern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall; Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest ModifierJoseph 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.

WinterUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation

Coastal Plain hammocks

Dense, evergreen groves of live oak, magnolia and other hardwoods in the southern Coastal Plain, from dry oak domes to wet hydric hammocks and south Florida's tropical hammocks; salt-shaped maritime hammocks are maritime forests.

SummerSouthern Coastal Plain Oak Dome and Hammock

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.

SummerWinter

Dry forests and woodlands

Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.

SummerSouthern Coastal Plain Dry Upland Hardwood Forest

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

SummerMississippi River Riparian Forest; Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest; East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest; Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest

Forest edges and thickets

Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.

SummerWinterDisturbed/Successional - Shrub Regeneration; Successional Shrub/Scrub (Other); Harvested Forest - Shrub Regeneration

Hardwood and oak flatwoods

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.

SummerEast Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Plain Dry Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier

Pine flatwoods

Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.

SummerEast Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier

Prairies and grasslands

Open, grass-dominated places kept open by fire, grazing or thin soil, from tallgrass prairie to Piedmont prairies.

SummerEast Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier; East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Prairie and Woodland

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

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

SummerWinterDeveloped, Open Space; Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay; Disturbed/Successional - Grass/Forb Regeneration; Utility Swath - Herbaceous; Ruderal Upland - Old Field

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.

SummerDeciduous Plantation; Evergreen Plantation or Managed Pine; Managed Tree Plantation
Other habitats in its models (68)

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

Elsewhere in the South (28)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood and Mixed Forest Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Summer.
  • Central and Southern Appalachian Montane Oak Forest Summer.
  • Cumberland Riverscour Summer.
  • Florida Dry Prairie Summer and winter.
  • Florida Peninsula Inland Scrub Summer.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland Summer.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer.
  • Ridge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and Woodland Summer.
  • South Florida Hardwood Hammock Summer.
  • South Florida Mangrove Swamp Summer.
  • South-Central Interior Mesophytic Forest Summer.
  • South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian Summer.
  • Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest Summer.
  • Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald Summer.
  • Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer.
  • Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer.
  • Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest Summer.
  • Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Summer.
  • Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Summer.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Summer.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Summer.
Northeast (3)
  • Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Summer.
  • Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer.
  • Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest Summer.
Land cover and other classes (37)
  • Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Hardwood Summer.
  • Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier Summer.
  • Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer.
  • Developed, Low Intensity Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Summer.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Modifier Summer.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer.
  • Eastern Highland Rim Prairie and Barrens - Dry Modifier Summer.
  • Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer.
  • Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Winter.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Summer and winter.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Winter.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Winter.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Summer and winter.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Shrub Summer and winter.
  • Modified/Managed Southern Tall Grassland Winter.
  • Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer.
  • Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Summer.
  • Orchards Vineyards and Other High Structure Agriculture Winter.
  • Recently Burned Summer and winter.
  • Recently Burned Forest Summer and winter.
  • Recently Burned Grassland Winter.
  • Recently Burned Shrubland Summer and winter.
  • Recently Logged Areas Summer and winter.
  • South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer.
  • Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest - Xeric Summer.
  • Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Herbaceous Modifier Summer.
  • Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Shrub Modifier Summer.
  • Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer.
  • Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer.
  • Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.

All habitats

Seasons in Mississippi

  • Summer: nests here, in all 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 7

Plant genera in its diet records (2)
  • Rubus 1 diet record. 6 native plants in Mississippi
  • Sambucus 1 diet record. 1 native plant 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.

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Birds 98

Plants 346

All of floodplain and bottomland forests in Mississippi

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Birds 129

Plants 1094

All of roadsides, fields and disturbed ground in Mississippi

Forest edges and thickets

Birds 75

Plants 172

All of forest edges and thickets in Mississippi

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources