Bird

Virginia Rail

Rallus limicola

A winter visitor to Florida, found in all 67 counties and 12 habitats.

Here: Winter
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: All 67 counties
Habitats: 12

Adult Virginia Rail, whole bird — **Adult**. (c) sprcrkwild, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 375266774. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: Winter
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: All 67 counties
Habitats: 12
Habitat models: Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in Florida 12

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

1 of 12

SummerWinterSouth Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh; Floridian Highlands Freshwater MarshRegional / representative. Shown: Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia; representative pond ecosystem, a neighboring state.Georgia pond and emergent wetland, Robert 'Bob' Hynes, 1997. Public domain. Source record.

SummerWinterEast Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp; Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; South Florida Cypress DomeRegional / representative. Shown: Southern coastal swamps, Florida to Virginia; state not identified, a neighboring state.Loblolly bay in a coastal swamp, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.

SummerWinterAtlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland

Coastal Plain seepage bogs

Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.

SummerWinterSouthern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog

Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)

Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.

SummerWinter

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

SummerWinterCentral Florida Herbaceous Pondshore; Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore

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

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

SummerWinterFlorida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Pine savannas

Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.

SummerWinterEast Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie

Pocosins and bay forests

Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh; Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh; Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh

Other habitats in its models (22)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Florida.

Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Winter, only within 250 m of water.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems Summer and winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
Central Florida Herbaceous Seep 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.
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest 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.
South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Summer and winter.
Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer and winter.
Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern 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.
South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems Summer and winter.
Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems Summer and winter.