Bird
Prothonotary Warbler
Protonotaria citrea
A summer resident that nests in North Carolina. Found in all 100 counties, across 9 habitats.
- Here
- Summer and on migration
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 100 counties
- Habitats
- 9

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Summer and on migration
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 100 counties
- Habitats
- 9
- 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 9
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Floodplain and bottomland forests


Streams, rivers and their banks


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.
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.
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.
Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.
Places where groundwater keeps the soil or rock wet, such as seepage slopes and spring runs.
Other habitats in its models (44)
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 (26)
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loblolly-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer and winter, only within 120 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- East-Central Texas Plains Floodplain Forest Winter.
- East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Winter.
- Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Summer, only within 120 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.
- Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer.
- South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Flatwoods Summer, only within 120 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.
- South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Mesophytic Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.
- 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 Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer and winter.
- Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain 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.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer and winter.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Summer.
Northeast (2)
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer.
Midwest (1)
- North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.
West (1)
- Western Great Plains Riparian Woodland and Shrubland Summer.
Land cover and other classes (14)
- Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer.
- Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter, only within 120 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
- Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Summer and winter.
- Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Winter.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
Seasons in North Carolina
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 24 of 100 counties.
- Summer: nests here, in 90 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.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Birds 70
- Lincoln's SparrowMelospiza lincolnii
- Brewer's BlackbirdEuphagus cyanocephalus
- Willow FlycatcherEmpidonax traillii
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
- Brown-headed CowbirdMolothrus ater
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Northern WaterthrushSeiurus noveboracensis
- Yellow-throated WarblerDendroica dominica
- Black-throated Blue WarblerDendroica caerulescens
- Cerulean WarblerDendroica cerulea
- Glossy IbisPlegadis falcinellus
- Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
Plants 367
- Elliott's BlueberryVaccinium elliottii
- Possumhaw HollyIlex decidua
- Cherrybark OakQuercus pagoda
- Shagbark HickoryCarya ovata
- Southern Shagbark HickoryCarya carolinae-septentrionalis
- Wolf's BluegrassPoa wolfii
- Spreading SedgeCarex laxiculmis
- Blunt Broom SedgeCarex tribuloides
- Louisiana SedgeCarex louisianica
- Smooth Hedge-nettleStachys tenuifolia
- Woodland SpurgeEuphorbia obtusata
- Common Cup-plantSilphium perfoliatum
Swamps
Birds 69
- Gull-billed TernGelochelidon nilotica
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Brewer's BlackbirdEuphagus cyanocephalus
- RedheadAythya americana
- Tricolored HeronEgretta tricolor
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Northern WaterthrushSeiurus noveboracensis
- Red-breasted MerganserMergus serrator
- Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpres
- Yellow-throated WarblerDendroica dominica
- Cerulean WarblerDendroica cerulea
Plants 329
- May HawthornCrataegus aestivalis
- Dense-flower SmartweedPersicaria densiflora
- Carolina AshFraxinus caroliniana
- Water HickoryCarya aquatica
- Bent SedgeCarex styloflexa
- Cypress-swamp SedgeCarex joorii
- Dark-green SedgeCarex venusta
- Fringed SedgeCarex crinita
- Ravenfoot SedgeCarex crus-corvi
- Weak Stellate SedgeCarex seorsa
- White-edge SedgeCarex debilis
- Swamp ButtercupRanunculus septentrionalis
Streams, rivers and their banks
Birds 52
- Lincoln's SparrowMelospiza lincolnii
- Willow FlycatcherEmpidonax traillii
- Brown-headed CowbirdMolothrus ater
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Yellow-throated WarblerDendroica dominica
- Cerulean WarblerDendroica cerulea
- OvenbirdSeiurus aurocapilla
- White-breasted NuthatchSitta carolinensis
- Broad-winged HawkButeo platypterus
- Evening GrosbeakCoccothraustes vespertinus
- Kentucky WarblerOporornis formosus
- Northern ParulaParula americana
Plants 306
- Scarlet SmartweedPersicaria coccinea
- Tall Blue Wild IndigoBaptisia australis
- Twisted SedgeCarex torta
- Earlyleaf BromeBromus latiglumis
- Alga-like PondweedPotamogeton confervoides
- Snail-seed PondweedPotamogeton bicupulatus
- Greenfruit Bur-reedSparganium acaule
- Mosquito BeaksedgeRhynchospora crinipes
- Thin-wall QuillwortIsoetes microvela
- Winter QuillwortIsoetes hyemalis
- Dwarf Spider-lilyHymenocallis pygmaea
- Ozark Tassel-rueTrautvetteria applanata
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Prothonotary Warbler 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)














































