Macbridea alba is endemic to (found only in) northwest Florida and southeastern Alabama, and is all but nonexistent outside the Apalachicola National Forest. Currently known populations are restricted to the Gulf coastal lowlands near the mouth of the Apalachicola River in the Florida Panhandle. This area provides the grassy habitat on poorly drained, infertile soils preferred by Macbridea alba. The wettest sites occupied by these plants are grassy seepage bogs on gentle slopes at the edge of forested or shrubby wetlands. The plants can be  found in open savannas or in dryer, mesic flatwoods sites with longleaf pine and runner oaks. Plants usually flower from May through July with small clusters of white buds and flowers resembling eggs and little bird heads in a nest. Hence the plant's common name is white-birds-in-a-nest. 

White birds-in-a-nest shares much the same habitat with two other Florida endangered species: Scutellaria floridana (Florida skullcap) and Stachydeoma graveolens. Destruction of habitat, suppression of fire, development of cattle pastures and use of chemical herbicides have greatly threatened these plants. It is pollinated by bumblebees, whose populations are diminishing thus increasing the decline in naturally occurring populations.