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Bird

Least Bittern

Ixobrychus exilis

A summer resident that nests in West Virginia. Found in 50 of 55 counties, across 3 habitats.

Here
Summer
Nesting
Nests here
Range
50 of 55 counties
Habitats
3

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Summer
Nesting
Nests here
Range
50 of 55 counties
Habitats
3
Habitat models
Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in West Virginia 3

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

1 of 3

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.

SummerWinterSouth-Central Interior Large Floodplain

Ponds, lakes and their shores

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

SummerWinterOpen Water (Fresh)
Other habitats in its models (48)

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

Elsewhere in the South (17)
  • Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Mangrove Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer and winter.
Northeast (4)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Great Lakes Freshwater Estuary and Delta Summer and winter.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
Midwest (2)
  • Northern Great Lakes Coastal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Western Great Plains Open Freshwater Depression Wetland Summer and winter.
West (10)
  • Mediterranean California Serpentine Fen Summer and winter.
  • Mediterranean California Subalpine-Montane Fen Summer and winter.
  • North American Arid West Emergent Marsh Summer and winter.
  • North American Warm Desert Lower Montane Riparian Woodland and Shrubland Summer and winter.
  • North Pacific Hypermaritime Shrub and Herbaceous Headland Summer and winter, only within 500 m of water.
  • North Pacific Intertidal Freshwater Wetland Summer and winter.
  • North Pacific Shrub Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Rocky Mountain Subalpine-Montane Fen Summer and winter.
  • Temperate Pacific Freshwater Emergent Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Temperate Pacific Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
Land cover and other classes (15)
  • Acadian Salt Marsh and Estuary Systems Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Great Lakes Coastal Marsh Systems Summer and winter.
  • Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Tidal Marsh Systems Summer and winter.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Swamp Systems Summer and winter.
  • Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
  • Open Water (Brackish/Salt) Summer and winter.
  • South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in West Virginia

  • Summer: nests here, in 50 of 55 counties.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in West 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.

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Birds 120

Plants 12

All of disturbed and introduced wetlands in West Virginia

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Birds 103

Plants 303

All of floodplain and bottomland forests in West Virginia

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Birds 58

Plants 109

All of ponds, lakes and their shores in West Virginia

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources