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Bird

Swamp Sparrow

Melospiza georgiana

Lives in West Virginia all year and nests here. Found in all 55 counties, across 5 habitats.

Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 55 counties
Habitats
5

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 55 counties
Habitats
5
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 5

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

1 of 5

Swamps

The Chickahominy Swamp LCCN2004661405
WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Swamp SystemsWilliam McIlvaine, The Chickahominy Swamp (1862): wind-tossed swamp trees standing in dark water under a storm. Shown: Chickahominy Swamp, Virginia, a neighboring state.The Chickahominy Swamp LCCN2004661405, William McIlvaine (1813-1867), 1862. 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.

SummerWinter

Floodplain and bottomland forests

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

WinterCentral Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier; Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems

Ponds, lakes and their shores

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

SummerWinterOpen Water (Fresh)

Streams, rivers and their banks

Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.

WinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems
Other habitats in its models (69)

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 (36)
  • Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest 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.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Winter.
  • Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Winter, only within 120 m of water.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
  • East-Central Texas Plains Floodplain Forest Winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
  • Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Winter, only within 120 m of water.
  • Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Winter.
  • Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Winter.
  • Mississippi River Riparian Forest Winter.
  • Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Pitch Pine Lowland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
  • Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Winter.
  • Red River Large Floodplain Forest Winter.
  • Southern and Central Appalachian Bog and Fen Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Winter.
  • Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Winter.
Northeast (6)
  • 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.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Alkaline Conifer-Hardwood Swamp Summer.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Freshwater Marsh Summer.
  • Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer.
Land cover and other classes (27)
  • Acadian Salt Marsh and Estuary Systems Summer.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Summer and winter.
  • Boreal Acidic Peatland Systems Summer.
  • Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Winter.
  • Great Lakes Coastal Marsh Systems Summer.
  • Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Swamp Systems Summer and winter.
  • Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Tidal Marsh Systems Summer and winter.
  • Laurentian-Acadian Swamp Systems Summer.
  • Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Winter.
  • Open Water (Brackish/Salt) Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Winter.
  • Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Winter.
  • Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression Swamp Winter.
  • Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune) Summer and winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in West Virginia

  • Year-round: nests here, in 32 of 55 counties.
  • Winter: does not nest here, in 22 of 55 counties.
  • Summer: nests here, in 32 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

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Birds 58

Plants 109

All of ponds, lakes and their shores in West Virginia

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Birds 103

Plants 303

All of floodplain and bottomland forests in West Virginia

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources