Bird

Least Bittern

Ixobrychus exilis

A summer resident that nests in North Carolina. Found in 75 of 100 counties, across 11 habitats.

Here: Summer
Nesting: Nests here
Range: 75 of 100 counties
Habitats: 11

Male Least Bittern, whole bird — **Male**. (c) Matt Felperin, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0. iNaturalist photo 133777840. Source-provided large resize; no crop or image edits.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: Summer
Nesting: Nests here
Range: 75 of 100 counties
Habitats: 11
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 11

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

1 of 11

SummerWinterSouth-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.

Coastal dunes and beaches

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

SummerWinterAtlantic 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

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland; Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore

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

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh

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.

SummerWinterOpen Water (Brackish/Salt)

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 (37)

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

Elsewhere in the South (11)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter.
Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter.
South Florida Mangrove Swamp Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer and winter.

Northeast (4)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
Great Lakes Freshwater Estuary and Delta Summer and winter.
Laurentian-Acadian Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.

Midwest (2)

Northern Great Lakes Coastal Marsh Summer and winter.
Western Great Plains Open Freshwater Depression Wetland Summer and winter.

West (10)

Mediterranean California Serpentine Fen Summer and winter.
Mediterranean California Subalpine-Montane Fen Summer and winter.
North American Arid West Emergent Marsh Summer and winter.
North American Warm Desert Lower Montane Riparian Woodland and Shrubland Summer and winter.
North Pacific Hypermaritime Shrub and Herbaceous Headland Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
North Pacific Intertidal Freshwater Wetland Summer and winter.
North Pacific Shrub Swamp Summer and winter.
Rocky Mountain Subalpine-Montane Fen Summer and winter.
Temperate Pacific Freshwater Emergent Marsh Summer and winter.
Temperate Pacific Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.

Land cover and other classes (10)

Acadian Salt Marsh and Estuary Systems Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
Great Lakes Coastal Marsh Systems Summer and winter.
Laurentian-Acadian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
Laurentian-Acadian Swamp Systems Summer and winter.
Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Summer and winter.
Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in North Carolina

Summer: nests here, in 75 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.