Bird

Northern Saw-whet Owl

Aegolius acadicus

Lives in North Carolina all year and nests here. Found in all 100 counties, across 14 habitats.

Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 100 counties
Habitats: 14

Adult Northern Saw-whet Owl, whole bird — **Adult**. (c) Troy B, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 182283589. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 100 counties
Habitats: 14
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 14

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

1 of 14

WinterAtlantic 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.

WinterSouthern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Loblolly Pine ModifierNamed place / source context. Shown: Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Georgia, a neighboring state.Trail on Little Kennesaw Mountain., Unidentified in HFC record, undated. Public domain. Source record.

WinterCentral 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.

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.

SummerWinterRegional / representative. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee; representative habitat composite, not a documented exact viewpointSpruce-fir forest, Hynes, Robert 'Bob', by 2012. Public domain. Source record.

WinterCentral 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.

WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa ModifierNamed 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.

Winter

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; Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest; Southern Appalachian Montane Pine Forest and Woodland; Southern Appalachian Low Mountain Pine Forest

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.

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

Moderately dry forests

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

SummerWinterSouthern and Central Appalachian 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

Northern hardwood forests

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

SummerWinter

Wet meadows

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

WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems

Other habitats in its models (35)

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 (10)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Winter.
East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Winter.
Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Winter.
Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Dry-Mesic Loess Slope Forest Winter.
Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Winter.
Mississippi River Riparian Forest Winter.
Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Winter.
Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland Winter.
Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Winter.
South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Winter.

Northeast (5)

Acadian Low-Elevation Spruce-Fir-Hardwood Forest Winter.
Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest Summer and winter.
Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Summer and winter.
Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Winter.

Midwest (4)

North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Winter.
North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Winter.
North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Winter.
Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Winter.

Land cover and other classes (16)

Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Hardwood Summer and winter.
Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Pine Modifier Winter.
Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest - Offsite Pine Modifier Winter.
Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Winter.
Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Winter.
Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Winter.
Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Virginia/Pitch Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Winter.
Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest - Pine modifier Summer and winter.
Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Winter.

All habitats

Seasons in North Carolina

Year-round: nests here, in 21 of 100 counties.
Winter: does not nest here, in 89 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.