Bird

Piping Plover

Charadrius melodus

A winter visitor to Mississippi, found in 3 of 82 counties and 6 habitats.

Here: Winter
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: 3 of 82 counties
Habitats: 6

Male Piping Plover, whole bird — **Male**. (c) Kalvin Chan, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 397038003. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: Winter
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: 3 of 82 counties
Habitats: 6
Habitat models: Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in Mississippi 6

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

1 of 6

Coastal dunes and beaches

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

SummerWinterUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland; Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland

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.

SummerWinter

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

SummerWinterMississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh

Ponds, lakes and their shores

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

SummerWinterBeside its main habitat.Open Water (Fresh)

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

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

SummerWinterOnly within 60 m of water.Pasture/Hay

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.

SummerWinterBeside its main habitat.Open Water (Brackish/Salt)

Other habitats in its models (49)

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

Elsewhere in the South (17)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
Louisiana Beach Summer and winter.
South Florida Shell Hash Beach Summer and winter.
Southeast Florida Beach Summer and winter.
Southwest Florida Beach Summer and winter.
Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer and winter.
Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer and winter.
Western Great Plains Floodplain Summer.

Northeast (6)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Sandy Beach Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
Great Lakes Freshwater Estuary and Delta Summer.
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Summer, beside its main habitat.
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Sandy Beach Summer.

Midwest (10)

Central Mixedgrass Prairie Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Great Lakes Alvar Summer.
Great Lakes Dune Summer.
Great Plains Prairie Pothole Summer.
Northern Great Lakes Coastal Marsh Summer.
Northwestern Great Plains Floodplain Summer.
Northwestern Great Plains Mixedgrass Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
Western Great Plains Open Freshwater Depression Wetland Summer.
Western Great Plains Saline Depression Wetland Summer.
Western Great Plains Sand Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.

West (7)

Inter-Mountain Basins Alkaline Closed Depression Summer.
Inter-Mountain Basins Interdunal Swale Wetland Summer.
Inter-Mountain Basins Playa Summer.
Inter-Mountain Basins Semi-Desert Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
North American Warm Desert Playa Summer.
Western Great Plains Closed Depression Wetland Summer.
Western Great Plains Shortgrass Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.

Land cover and other classes (9)

Acadian Salt Marsh and Estuary Systems Summer.
Barren Land Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
Great Lakes Coastal Marsh Systems Summer.
South Texas Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in Mississippi

Winter: does not nest here, in 3 of 82 counties.

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.