Bird
Ruddy Duck
Oxyura jamaicensis
A winter visitor to Mississippi, found in all 82 counties and 6 habitats.
- Here
- Winter
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 82 counties
- Habitats
- 6

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Winter
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 82 counties
- Habitats
- 6
- Habitat models
- 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.
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.
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.
Other habitats in its models (27)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Mississippi.
- 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.
- 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 Mississippi
- Winter: does not nest here, in all 82 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 47
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Mississippi. Shared habitat, not food.
- Common WaxmyrtleMorella cerifera
- SwitchgrassPanicum virgatum
- Common Three Square BulrushSchoenoplectus pungens
- Saltmeadow CordgrassSpartina patens
- Virginia Chain-fernAnchistea virginica
- Bushy BluestemAndropogon glomeratus
- Groundsel-treeBaccharis halimifolia
- American BlueheartsBuchnera americana
- Shoreline SedgeCarex hyalinolepis
- ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis
- Erectleaf WitchgrassDichanthelium erectifolium
- Seashore SaltgrassDistichlis spicata
- Slim SpikerushEleocharis elongata
- Fimbristylis carolinianaFimbristylis caroliniana
- Fimbristylis castaneaFimbristylis castanea
- Fuirena longaFuirena longa
- Fuirena scirpoideaFuirena scirpoidea
- Yaupon HollyIlex vomitoria
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Black NeedlerushJuncus roemerianus
- PondberryLindera melissifolia
- Muhlenbergia capillaris var. filipesMuhlenbergia capillaris var. filipes
- Fragrant Water-lilyNymphaea odorata
- Panicum amarum var. amarulumPanicum amarum var. amarulum
Wildlife 229
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Mississippi. Not sighting records.
- American AvocetRecurvirostra americana
- American BitternBotaurus lentiginosus
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CootFulica americana
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- American WigeonAnas americana
- 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 NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Common TernSterna hirundo
- Forster's TernSterna forsteri
- GadwallAnas strepera
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Green HeronButorides virescens
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)




































