Bird

Prothonotary Warbler

Protonotaria citrea

A summer resident that nests in Virginia. Found in all 133 counties and cities, across 10 habitats.

Here: Summer and on migration
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 10

Male Prothonotary Warbler, whole bird — **Male**. (c) Brent Cox, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 494048366. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: Summer and on migration
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 10
Habitat models: Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in Virginia 10

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

1 of 10

SummerCentral 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. Shown: North Carolina mountains (Frederic Edwin Church, oil sketch 1865-70; Cooper Hewitt), a neighboring state.Drawing, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina, 1865–70, Frederic Edwin Church, 1865-1870. Public domain. Source record.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall; Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier; Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression SwampWilliam McIlvaine, The Chickahominy Swamp (1862): wind-tossed swamp trees standing in dark water under a storm. Chickahominy Swamp, VirginiaThe Chickahominy Swamp LCCN2004661405, William McIlvaine (1813-1867), 1862. 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.

SummerAtlantic 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.

SummerWinter

Floodplain and bottomland forests

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

SummerAtlantic 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.

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

Pocosins and bay forests

Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore

SummerOnly within 120 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.South-Central Interior Mesophytic ForestHarvey Joiner, Woods Scene: tall beeches in a moist Kentucky woodland, light falling through a closed canopy onto a damp forest floor. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Shown: Kentucky beech woods (Harvey Joiner, Louisville painter of Kentucky beech forests; the painting does not name the site), a neighboring state.Woods Scene, Harvey Joiner, c. 1880-1920. Public domain. Source record.

Dry forests and woodlands

Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.

SummerOnly within 120 m of water, for banks and other nest sites.Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest

Other habitats in its models (41)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia. Those recorded in Virginia first, the rest by region.

Elsewhere in the South (25)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer.
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.
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.
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 (1)

North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods 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 (13)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland 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.

All habitats

Seasons in Virginia

Migratory: does not nest here, in 55 of 133 counties and cities.
Summer: nests here, in 101 of 133 counties and cities.

County or city

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in Virginia, 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.