Bird
Little Blue Heron
Egretta caerulea
Passes through West Virginia on migration. Found in 27 of 55 counties, across 3 habitats.
- Here
- On migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- 27 of 55 counties
- Habitats
- 3

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- On migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- 27 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.
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.
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Other habitats in its models (64)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in West Virginia.
- Open Water (Brackish/Salt) Summer and winter.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Southeast Florida Beach Winter.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach Winter.
- Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Winter.
- Southwest Florida Beach Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Winter, only within 250 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer and winter.
- Florida Dry Prairie Winter, only within 250 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Prairie and Woodland Winter, only within 250 m of water.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Mangrove Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Bayhead Swamp Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Summer and winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Summer and winter.
- South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer and winter.
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland Summer and winter.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Winter.
- Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- South Florida Cypress Dome Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress Dome Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression Swamp Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Plain Dry Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Winter, only within 250 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Winter, only within 250 m of water.
Seasons in West Virginia
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 27 of 55 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 86
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in West Virginia. Shared habitat, not food.
- Hazel AlderAlnus serrulata
- Big BluestemAndropogon gerardi
- Tall Blue Wild IndigoBaptisia australis
- River BirchBetula nigra
- False NettleBoehmeria cylindrica
- Allegheny BrookfoamBoykinia aconitifolia
- Trumpet-creeperCampsis radicans
- Twisted SedgeCarex torta
- American HornbeamCarpinus caroliniana
- Prairie Red RootCeanothus herbaceus
- ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis
- River OatsChasmanthium latifolium
- Sweet-fernComptonia peregrina
- Blue MistflowerConoclinium coelestinum
- Star TickseedCoreopsis pubescens
- Tall TickseedCoreopsis tripteris
- Deer-tongue WitchgrassDichanthelium clandestinum
- American PersimmonDiospyros virginiana
- Carolina Elephant's-footElephantopus carolinianus
- Canada Wild-ryeElymus canadensis
- Wild GeraniumGeranium maculatum
- HarperellaHarperella nodosa
- Common SneezeweedHelenium autumnale
- Western SunflowerHelianthus occidentalis
Wildlife 199
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in West Virginia. Not sighting records.
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CootFulica americana
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Bank SwallowRiparia riparia
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Cliff SwallowPetrochelidon pyrrhonota
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Double-crested CormorantPhalacrocorax auritus
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Green HeronButorides virescens
- Hooded MerganserLophodytes cucullatus
- Lesser ScaupAythya affinis
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
- Northern Rough-winged SwallowStelgidopteryx serripennis
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Ring-billed GullLarus delawarensis
- Ring-necked DuckAythya collaris
- Swamp SparrowMelospiza georgiana
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Little Blue Heron
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)












































