WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Molothrus ater | Brown-Headed Cowbird 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Breeding Range:  The range of brown-headed cowbird extends from
southeastern Alaska, northern British Columbia, southern Mackenzie
District, northern Alberta, and north-central Saskatchewan; east to
southern Manitoba and southern Newfoundland; south to central Florida,
the Gulf Coast, and southern Texas; and south in Mexico to Oaxaca and
northern Baja California [57].

Winter Range:  The brown-headed cowbird winters from northern
California, central Arizona, the Great Lakes States, and New England
south to Mexico, the Gulf Coast, and southern Florida [11].

Ranges of subspecies are as follows:

Brown-headed cowbird - Midwest and eastern United States
Western cowbird - western states including California
Dwarf cowbird - Great Basin and California [35].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
FRES10 White-red-jack pine
FRES11 Spruce-fir
FRES12 Longleaf-slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly-shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak-pine
FRES15 Oak-hickory
FRES16 Oak-gum-cypress
FRES17 Elm-ash-cottonwood
FRES18 Maple-beech-birch
FRES19 Aspen-birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir-spruce
FRES24 Hemlock-Sitka spruce
FRES25 Larch
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES27 Redwood
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES31 Shinnery
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon-juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
FRES40 Desert grasslands
FRES41 Wet grasslands
FRES42 Annual grasslands
FRES44 Alpine


STATES : 


    
AL
    
AK
	
AZ
    
AR
    
CA
    
CO
    
CT
    
DE
    
FL
    
GA


    
ID
    
IL
    
IN
    
IA
    
KS
    
KY
    
LA
    
ME
    
MD
    
MA


    
MI
    
MN
    
MS
    
MO
    
MT
    
NE
    
NV
    
NH
    
NJ
    
NM


    
NY
    
NC
    
ND
    
OH
    
OK
    
OR
    
PA
    
RI
    
SC
    
SD


    
TN
    
TX
    
UT
    
VT
    
VA
    
WA
    
WV
    
WI
    
WY
    
DC






    
AB
    
BC
    
MB
    
NB
    
NF
    
NT
    
NS
    
ON
    
PE
    
PQ


    
SK
    
YK
    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    







    
MEXICO
    




BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   The brown-headed cowbird occurs in all or nearly all Kuchler types.


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   The brown-headed cowbird occurs in all or nearly all SAF types.


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
   The brown-headed cowbird occurs in all or nearly all SRM types.


PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
In Maryland and the District of Columbia, brown-headed cowbirds inhabit
agricultural areas and adjacent woodlands [64].

In the central and southeastern oak (Quercus spp.)-pine (Pinus spp.)
region, brown-headed cowbirds are common to abundant in all successional
stages of central hardwood forest.  They are present to common in
loblolly pine (P. taeda)-shortleaf pine (P. echinata) stands in early
stages of succession, but not present in mature loblolly-shortleaf pine
stands [13].

In Kansas a census of floodplain tallgrass prairie taken from 1974 to
1988 revealed 15.4 brown-headed cowbirds per square mile (6/sq km) in
the prairie, but less than 2.6 per square mile (1/sq km) in adjacent
wetlands.

In southwestern South Dakota brown-headed cowbirds are present in Rocky
Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) communities where fields or
grasslands were interspersed with shrubs or trees.  Brown-headed
cowbirds use closed deciduous woodlands (riparian areas) for
reproductive activities [58].

In Texas on the Rio Grande plain, brown-headed cowbirds are common in
thorn forests dominated by blackbrush (Acacia rigidula), guajillo (A.
berlandieri), Texas persimmon (Diospyros texana), and other thorny
shrubs.  They are also present in adjacent grasslands and areas cleared
of shrubs for agriculture and cattle grazing [69].

On the lower Colorado River in Arizona, the brown-headed cowbird was one
of a number of granivores that reached their highest densities in common
reed (Phragmites spp.) communities in fall, winter, and spring [1].
Brown-headed cowbirds are more numerous in riparian stands of Fremont
cottonwood (Populus fremontii) than in nearby mesquite (Prosopis spp.)
bosques or saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima) stands [61].

In southern California brown-headed cowbirds sucessfully breed in
chaparral communities [71].

In Washington shrub-steppe communities dominated by big sagebrush
(Artemisia tridentata) and rubber rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus),
brown-headed cowbirds occurred on 38.7 percent of transects. There was a
positive correlation between observations of brown-headed cowbirds and
big sagebrush cover.  The presence of brown-headed cowbirds in this
ecosystem is apparently recent.  Shortly after settlement unbroken
sagebrush and bunchgrass landscapes were rapidly degraded and fragmented
by conversion to agriculture and cattle range, creating feeding habitat
for brown-headed cowbirds [14].


REFERENCES : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Wildlife Species: Molothrus ater | Brown-Headed Cowbird