Bird
Great Horned Owl
Bubo virginianus
Lives in Virginia all year and nests here. Found in all 133 counties and cities, across 32 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 32

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 32
- Habitat models
- Year-round
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Virginia 32
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Cliffs, ledges and rocky summits



Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone










Streams, rivers and their banks


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.
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.
Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.
Granite and other acidic rock outcrops
Bare or thin-soil rock on granite, gneiss, sandstone, quartzite and similar acidic rock, including granite flatrocks and domes.
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.
Salt-pruned forests and shrub thickets behind coastal dunes.
Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Steep, sun-baked slopes of loose shale with sparse oaks and Virginia pine and their own endemic wildflowers. Linked only where the source names shale barrens; calcareous shale stays with the limestone glades.
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.
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.


Forests between dry and moist, often oak-hickory on slopes.
Other habitats in its models (202)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia.
- Developed, Low Intensity Year-round.
- Quarries, Mines, Gravel Pits and Oil Wells Year-round.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Year-round.
- Barren Land Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Year-round.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Year-round.
- Unconsolidated Shore Year-round.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Year-round.
- Louisiana Beach Year-round.
- Southeast Florida Beach Year-round.
- Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Year-round.
- Southwest Florida Beach Year-round.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Year-round.
- Central Interior Calcareous Cliff and Talus Year-round.
- Central Interior Acidic Cliff and Talus Year-round.
- North-Central Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff and Talus Year-round.
- Southern Interior Acid Cliff Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dry Chalk Bluff Year-round.
- Southern Appalachian Rocky Summit Year-round.
- Southern Appalachian Granitic Dome Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Limestone Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Hardwood Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Juniper Modifier Year-round.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- Ouachita Montane Oak Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loess Bluff Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Hardwood Hammock Year-round.
- Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round.
- Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round.
- Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Chenier and Upper Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Dry-Mesic Loess Slope Forest Year-round.
- East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Year-round.
- East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Year-round.
- South Florida Pine Rockland Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Oak Dome and Hammock Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Maritime Forest Year-round.
- Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Year-round.
- Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Year-round.
- Mississippi Delta Maritime Forest Year-round.
- Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Year-round.
- Southern Crowley's Ridge Mesic Loess Slope Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Mesic Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Mesic Slope Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Hardwood Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Year-round.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Virginia/Pitch Pine Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Loblolly Pine Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest - Offsite Pine Modifier Year-round.
- Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Pine Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest - Pine modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- Southeastern Interior Longleaf Pine Woodland Year-round.
- Central Interior Highlands Dry Acidic Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Forest Year-round.
- Acadian Low-Elevation Spruce-Fir-Hardwood Forest Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Sandhill Oak and Shortleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- Northern Crowley's Ridge Sand Forest Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Open Understory Modifier Year-round.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-Line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Modifier Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Year-round.
- Northeastern Interior Pine Barrens Year-round.
- East-Central Texas Plains Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Peninsula Inland Scrub Year-round.
- Tamaulipan Mixed Deciduous Thornscrub Year-round.
- Tamaulipan Mesquite Upland Scrub Year-round.
- Tamaulipan Calcareous Thornscrub Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Year-round.
- North-Central Oak Barrens Year-round.
- Southern Piedmont Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- Nashville Basin Limestone Glade Year-round.
- Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Year-round.
- Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Catahoula Barrens Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nepheline Syenite Glade Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Year-round.
- Western Great Plains Mesquite Woodland and Shrubland Year-round.
- Eastern Highland Rim Prairie and Barrens - Dry Modifier Year-round.
- Central Mixedgrass Prairie Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Sand and Gravel Tallgrass Prairie Year-round.
- Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Year-round.
- Central Tallgrass Prairie Year-round.
- Southern Blackland Tallgrass Prairie Year-round.
- Southeastern Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Year-round.
- Florida Dry Prairie Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Prairie and Woodland Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Year-round.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
- Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Year-round.
- Recently Burned Grassland Year-round.
- Recently Burned Shrubland Year-round.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Treed Year-round.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Year-round.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Year-round.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Year-round.
- Modified/Managed Southern Tall Grassland Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Year-round.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Year-round.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Year-round.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Year-round.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Year-round.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Year-round.
- South Florida Bayhead Swamp Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Year-round.
- South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Year-round.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Year-round.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Year-round.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Year-round.
- Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Year-round.
- South Florida Cypress Dome Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress Dome Year-round.
- Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Year-round.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Year-round.
- Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Year-round.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.
- Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Year-round.
- Mississippi River Riparian Forest Year-round.
- Cumberland Riverscour Year-round.
- Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Red River Large Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Year-round.
- Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Year-round.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Plain Dry Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Year-round.
- South Florida Pine Flatwoods Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Year-round.
- Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loblolly-Hardwood Flatwoods Year-round.
- South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods Year-round.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Year-round.
- Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Year-round.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Year-round.
Seasons in Virginia
- Year-round: nests here, in all 133 counties and cities.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 1306
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food.
- Post OakQuercus stellata
- Rosebay RhododendronRhododendron maximum
- Eastern HemlockTsuga canadensis
- Sugar MapleAcer saccharum
- Shagbark HickoryCarya ovata
- Eastern TeaberryGaultheria procumbens
- Box HuckleberryGaylussacia brachycera
- Scarlet OakQuercus coccinea
- Spotted JewelweedImpatiens capensis
- Canada Wood-nettleLaportea canadensis
- Eastern White PinePinus strobus
- Black OakQuercus velutina
- SassafrasSassafras albidum
- Common GreenbrierSmilax rotundifolia
- Carolina HemlockTsuga caroliniana
- DeerberryVaccinium stamineum
- Common PawpawAsimina triloba
- Wavy HairgrassAvenella flexuosa
- Yellow BirchBetula alleghaniensis
- Pennsylvania SedgeCarex pensylvanica
- American HornbeamCarpinus caroliniana
- Glade SpurgeEuphorbia purpurea
- GalaxGalax urceolata
- Royal FernOsmunda spectabilis
Wildlife 265
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Virginia. Not sighting records.
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Sharp-shinned HawkAccipiter striatus
- Turkey VultureCathartes aura
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- Yellow-breasted ChatIcteria virens
- American CrowCorvus brachyrhynchos
- European StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Spotted SandpiperActitis macularius
- American GoldfinchCarduelis tristis
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- American RobinTurdus migratorius
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Yellow-rumped WarblerDendroica coronata
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Common YellowthroatGeothlypis trichas
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Common GrackleQuiscalus quiscula
- Great Crested FlycatcherMyiarchus crinitus
- Northern FlickerColaptes auratus
- Northern MockingbirdMimus polyglottos
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP year-round habitat model for Great Horned Owl Elevation 0 to 1,066 m
- 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)















































