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Bird

Northern Saw-whet Owl

Aegolius acadicus

Lives in Virginia all year and nests here. Found in all 133 counties and cities, across 12 habitats.

Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 133 counties and cities
Habitats
12

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 133 counties and cities
Habitats
12
Habitat models
Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in Virginia 12

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

1 of 12

Hemlock forests

Hemlock forest / rocky mountain stream
SummerWinterAppalachian Hemlock-Hardwood ForestRegional / representative. Shown: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee; representative habitat composite, not a documented exact viewpoint, a neighboring state.Hemlock forest / rocky mountain stream, Hynes, Robert 'Bob', by 2012. Public domain. Source record.

Moist forests

Shortia beneath rhododendrons in mountain woodland
SummerWinterSouthern Piedmont Mesic Forest; Southern and Central Appalachian Cove ForestRegional / representative. Shown: Mountains of North and South Carolina; exact site not identified, a neighboring state.Shortia beneath rhododendrons in mountain woodland, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

Northern hardwood forests

Frozen northern hardwood forest, Baxter Creek Trail
SummerWinterNorthern hardwood forest in winter. Shown: Baxter Creek Trail near Mount Sterling, Haywood County, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Frozen northern hardwood forest, Baxter Creek Trail, Brian Stansberry, undated. CC BY 3.0. Source record.

Rich cove forests

Cove hardwood forest
SummerWinterSouthern and Central Appalachian Cove ForestRegional / representative. Shown: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee; representative habitat composite, not a documented exact viewpoint, a neighboring state.Cove hardwood forest, Hynes, Robert 'Bob', by 2012. Public domain. Source record.

Spruce-fir forests

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

Streams, rivers and their banks

Watauga Falls
WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; South-Central Interior Small Stream and RiparianNamed place / source context. Shown: Watauga Falls, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Watauga Falls, Illustrator/engraver not confidently attributed; reproduced in Zeigler and Grosscup, The Heart of the Alleghanies (1883), 1883. Public domain. Source record.

Swamps

View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina
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. 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.

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; Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Hardwood; Central and Southern Appalachian Montane Oak Forest; Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest; Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest; Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland; Southern Appalachian Montane Pine Forest and Woodland; Southern Appalachian Low Mountain Pine Forest

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Central Appalachian Riparian - 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 Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian; South-Central Interior Large Floodplain

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.

SummerWinterNortheastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest; Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest
Other habitats in its models (31)

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

  • Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
  • North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Winter.
  • North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Winter.
  • North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Winter.
  • Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Dry-Mesic Loess Slope Forest Winter.
  • East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Winter.
  • Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Winter.
  • Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Virginia/Pitch Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Loblolly Pine Modifier Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest - Offsite Pine Modifier Winter.
  • Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Pine Modifier Winter.
  • Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest - Pine modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Winter.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Winter.
  • Acadian Low-Elevation Spruce-Fir-Hardwood Forest Winter.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland Winter.
  • Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Winter.
  • Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
  • Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Winter.
  • Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Winter.
  • Mississippi River Riparian Forest Winter.
  • Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Winter.
  • Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Winter.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Winter.
  • South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Winter.
  • Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Winter.

All habitats

Seasons in Virginia

  • Year-round: nests here, in 8 of 133 counties and cities.
  • Winter: does not nest here, in all 133 counties and cities.

Also found in this habitat

Plants 876

Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food.

Wildlife 231

Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Virginia. Not sighting records.

NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources