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Bird

Ruffed Grouse

Bonasa umbellus

Lives in Virginia all year and nests here. Found in 86 of 133 counties and cities, across 14 habitats.

Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
86 of 133 counties and cities
Habitats
14

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
86 of 133 counties and cities
Habitats
14
Habitat models
Year-round

Where it lives

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

Habitats in Virginia 14

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

1 of 14

Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone

Cedar glade in the Pennyroyal Plain, Simpson County
Year-roundRidge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and WoodlandLimestone cedar glade. Shown: Pennyroyal Plain, Simpson County, Kentucky, a neighboring state.Cedar glade in the Pennyroyal Plain, Simpson County, Mason Brock (Masebrock), undated. Public domain. Source record.

Hemlock forests

Hemlock forest / rocky mountain stream
Year-roundAppalachian 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
Year-roundSouthern Piedmont Mesic Forest; Southern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest; South-Central Interior Mesophytic 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
Year-roundNorthern 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
Year-roundSouthern 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
Year-roundRegional / 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
Year-roundCentral 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
Year-roundNorthern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood ForestNamed 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.

Dry forests and woodlands

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

Year-roundSouthern 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 - Hardwood Modifier; Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest; Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest; Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest; Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous 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.

Year-roundCentral 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; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian; South-Central Interior Large Floodplain

Moderately dry forests

Forests between dry and moist, often oak-hickory on slopes.

Year-roundNortheastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest; Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest

Mountain bogs and fens

Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.

Year-round

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.

Year-roundDeciduous Plantation; Evergreen Plantation or Managed Pine; Managed Tree Plantation

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

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

Year-roundBeside its main habitat.Pasture/Hay; Utility Swath - Herbaceous
Other habitats in its models (29)

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

  • Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Year-round.
  • Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round.
  • Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest 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.
  • North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Year-round.
  • North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Year-round.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland Year-round.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Year-round.
  • Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Virginia/Pitch Pine Modifier Year-round.
  • Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Loblolly Pine Modifier Year-round.
  • Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest - Pine modifier Year-round.
  • Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round.
  • Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier 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.
  • Acadian Low-Elevation Spruce-Fir-Hardwood Forest Year-round.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland 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.
  • Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Year-round, beside its main habitat.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Treed Year-round.
  • Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Year-round.

All habitats

Seasons in Virginia

  • Year-round: nests here, in 86 of 133 counties and cities.

Also found in this habitat

Plants 987

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

Wildlife 225

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