Bird

Merlin

Falco columbarius

Passes through Virginia on migration. Found in all 133 counties and cities, across 9 habitats.

Here: On migration
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: All 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 9

Male Merlin, whole bird — **Male**. (c) Laura Liedtke, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0. iNaturalist photo 240208016. Source-provided large resize; no crop or image edits.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: On migration
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: All 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 9
Habitat models: Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in Virginia 9

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

1 of 9

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Northern Sandy Beach; Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune)Dune grassland. Shown: Core Banks, Cape Lookout, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Core Banks dunes, June 2013, Jarek Tuszyński, June 2013. CC BY-SA 3.0. Source record.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Peatland PocosinDense low pocosin. Shown: Shaken Creek Preserve, Pender and Onslow Counties, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Dense low pocosin, Robert Thornhill, undated. CC BY 4.0. Source record.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural LakeshoreRegional / representative. Shown: Southern coastal pond margins, Florida and Louisiana to North Carolina; state not identified, a neighboring state.Yellow butterwort beside a moss-hung coastal pond, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt MarshBrackish marsh at a woodland edge. Shown: Fort Fisher, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Fort Fisher brackish marsh and woodland edge, ncwetlands.org, undated. CC0 1.0. Source record.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded SwampNamed place / source context. Shown: Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretation, a neighboring state.View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

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.

WinterAtlantic 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.

Winter

Freshwater tidal marshes

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

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

WinterCultivated Cropland

Other habitats in its models (57)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia.

Developed, Low Intensity Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Winter.
Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.
Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
Southeast Florida Beach Winter.
South Florida Shell Hash Beach Winter.
Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Winter.
Southwest Florida Beach Winter.
Texas Coastal Bend Beach Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Winter.
Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Winter.
South Florida Pine Rockland Winter.
Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Open Understory Modifier Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Winter.
Southern Rocky Mountain Pinyon-Juniper Woodland Winter.
Florida Peninsula Inland Scrub Winter.
Southern Piedmont Glade and Barrens Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Catahoula Barrens Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Nepheline Syenite Glade Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Winter.
Southern Blackland Tallgrass Prairie Winter.
Florida Dry Prairie Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Winter.
South Texas Sand Sheet Grassland Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Winter.
Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Winter.
Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
South Texas Lomas Winter.
South Texas Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
Recently Chained Pinyon-Juniper Areas Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
North American Arid West Emergent Marsh Winter.
Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Winter.
Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
South Florida Mangrove Swamp Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Winter.
Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Winter.
South Florida Cypress Dome Winter.
Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Winter.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Winter.