Bird

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Polioptila caerulea

Lives in North Carolina all year and nests here. Found in all 100 counties, across 20 habitats.

Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 100 counties
Habitats: 20

Male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, whole bird — **Male**. (c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0. iNaturalist photo 528111622. Source-provided large resize; no crop or image edits.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 100 counties
Habitats: 20
Habitat models: Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in North Carolina 20

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

1 of 20

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian; South-Central Interior Large FloodplainNamed place / source context. Shown: Congaree Swamp National Monument floodplain forest, South Carolina; representative illustration, no exact viewpoint, a neighboring state.fallen (uprooted) tree, John Dawson, by1988. Public domain. Source record.

SummerWinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland SystemsRegional / representative. Shown: Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia; representative pond ecosystem, a neighboring state.Georgia pond and emergent wetland, Robert 'Bob' Hynes, 1997. Public domain. Source record.

SummerWinterCentral Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and FlatwoodsGeorge Inness, Georgia Pines (1890): tall, straight pines over an open, grassy floor in a south Georgia pine woods. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Shown: Georgia pine woods (George Inness, 1890; site not named), a neighboring state.Georgia Pines, George Inness (1825-1894), 1890. Public domain. Source record.

SummerWinterSouthern and Central Appalachian Cove ForestRegional / representative. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee; representative habitat composite, not a documented exact viewpointCove hardwood forest, Hynes, Robert 'Bob', by 2012. Public domain. Source record.

SummerWinterDisturbed, Non-specificLyell Carr, Black Mountain: a pasture and hayfield with a log barn, rail fence and grazing cow below the Black Mountains. Black Mountain, North Carolina (Lyell E. Carr)*Black Mountainlabel QS:Len,"Black Mountain"*, Lyell Carr, c. 1890-1912. Public domain. Source record.

SummerWinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; South-Central Interior Small Stream and RiparianFrederic Edwin Church, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina (1865-70): a boulder-strewn mountain river under autumn-coloured ridges. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. North Carolina mountains (Frederic Edwin Church, oil sketch 1865-70; Cooper Hewitt)*Drawing, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina, 1865–70*, Frederic Edwin Church, 1865-1870. Public domain. Source record.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall; Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier; Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland; Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression SwampNamed place / source context. Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretationView, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

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.

SummerWinterSouthern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest - Xeric; Central and Southern Appalachian Montane Oak Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest; Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Hardwood Modifier; Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest

Forest edges and thickets

Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.

SummerWinterDisturbed/Successional - Shrub Regeneration; 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.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier

Maritime forests and thickets

Salt-pruned forests and shrub thickets behind coastal dunes.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Central Maritime Forest

Moderately dry forests

Forests between dry and moist, often oak-hickory on slopes.

SummerWinterSouthern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest

Moist forests

Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.

SummerWinterSouthern Piedmont Mesic Forest; Southern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood and Mixed Forest

Northern hardwood forests

High mountain forests of beech, yellow birch and sugar maple, including boulderfield forests.

SummerWinter

Pine savannas

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

SummerWinterCentral Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods

Pocosins and bay forests

Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin; Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

Seeps and springs

Places where groundwater keeps the soil or rock wet, such as seepage slopes and spring runs.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

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.

SummerWinterDeciduous Plantation; Evergreen Plantation or Managed Pine; Managed Tree Plantation

Wet meadows

Open, wet, grassy or sedgy ground that is not a bog.

SummerWinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems

Other habitats in its models (125)

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

In North Carolina 1

Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer and winter.

Elsewhere in the South (73)

Appalachian Shale Barrens Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer and winter.
Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Summer and winter.
Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
Cumberland Riverscour Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Limestone Forest Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loblolly-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loess Bluff Forest Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Mesic Slope Forest Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
East-Central Texas Plains Pine Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Summer and winter.
East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Summer and winter.
Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Summer and winter.
Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Summer and winter.
Mississippi Delta Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Dry-Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer and winter.
Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Summer and winter.
Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Summer and winter.
Mississippi River Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
Northern Crowley's Ridge Sand Forest Summer.
Ouachita Montane Oak Forest Summer and winter.
Ozark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland Summer and winter.
Ozark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer and winter.
Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer and winter.
Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland Summer and winter.
Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
Red River Large Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
Ridge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and Woodland Summer.
South Florida Bayhead Swamp Summer and winter.
South Florida Cypress Dome Summer and winter.
South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer and winter.
South Florida Hardwood Hammock Summer and winter.
South Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer and winter.
South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Summer and winter.
South-Central Interior Mesophytic Forest Summer and winter.
Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress Dome Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Oak Dome and Hammock Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer and winter.
Southern Crowley's Ridge Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer and winter.
Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer and winter.
Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest Summer and winter.
Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Summer and winter.
Tamaulipan Calcareous Thornscrub Winter, only within 120 m of water.
Tamaulipan Mixed Deciduous Thornscrub Winter, only within 120 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Chenier and Upper Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer and winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Summer and winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer and winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer and winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Summer and winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
Western Great Plains Mesquite Woodland and Shrubland Winter, only within 120 m of water.

Northeast (13)

Acadian-Appalachian Subalpine Woodland and Heath-Krummholz Summer and winter.
Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Summer and winter.
Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest Summer and winter.
Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Summer and winter.
Laurentian-Acadian Alkaline Conifer-Hardwood Swamp Summer and winter.
Laurentian-Acadian Northern Hardwoods Forest Summer and winter.
Laurentian-Acadian Northern Pine-(Oak) Forest Summer and winter.
North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer and winter.
Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer and winter.
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.

Midwest (7)

North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Summer and winter.
North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Summer and winter.
North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Summer and winter.
North-Central Oak Barrens Summer and winter.
Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Summer.

Land cover and other classes (31)

Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Hardwood Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer.
Boreal Acidic Peatland Systems Summer and winter.
Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
Developed, Low Intensity Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Hardwood Modifier Summer.
Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Treed Summer and winter.
Laurentian-Acadian Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
Laurentian-Acadian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
Laurentian-Acadian Swamp Systems Summer and winter.
Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Summer and winter.
Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
Tamaulipan Mesquite Upland Scrub Winter, only within 120 m of water.
Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Summer and winter.
Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in North Carolina

Year-round: nests here, in 29 of 100 counties.
Summer: nests here, in 83 of 100 counties.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in North Carolina, 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.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher uses many habitats in North Carolina; these are its 3 most characteristic.