Bird
King Rail
Rallus elegans
Lives in Louisiana all year and nests here. Found in all 64 parishes, across 5 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 5

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 64 parishes
- 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 Louisiana 5
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
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.
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.
Forested wetlands with standing water much of the year, such as cypress and gum swamps.
Other habitats in its models (32)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore 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.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh 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.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer and winter.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Summer and winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer.
- Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
- South Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer and winter, only within 250 m of water.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer.
Seasons in Louisiana
- Year-round: nests here, in all 64 parishes.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 107
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Louisiana. Shared habitat, not food.
- ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis
- PondberryLindera melissifolia
- Red MapleAcer rubrum
- Scaleleaf False FoxgloveAgalinis aphylla
- Agalinis filicaulisAgalinis filicaulis
- Virginia Chain-fernAnchistea virginica
- Bushy BluestemAndropogon glomeratus
- Narrowleaf BluestemAndropogon perangustatus
- Longleaf Three-awnAristida palustris
- Switch CaneArundinaria tecta
- Red MilkweedAsclepias rubra
- American BlueheartsBuchnera americana
- Southern BluethreadBurmannia capitata
- Bearded Grass-pinkCalopogon barbatus
- Pale Grass-pinkCalopogon pallidus
- Cypress-knee SedgeCarex decomposita
- Shoreline SedgeCarex hyalinolepis
- Sharp-scale SedgeCarex oxylepis
- Carphephorus pseudoliatrisCarphephorus pseudoliatris
- Water HickoryCarya aquatica
- Common HornwortCeratophyllum demersum
- LeConte's ThistleCirsium lecontei
- Toothache GrassCtenium aromaticum
- TitiCyrilla racemiflora
Wildlife 251
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Louisiana. Not sighting records.
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
- Sharp-shinned HawkAccipiter striatus
- Snowy EgretEgretta thula
- Song SparrowMelospiza melodia
- SoraPorzana carolina
- Spotted SandpiperActitis macularius
- Swamp SparrowMelospiza georgiana
- Tree SwallowTachycineta bicolor
- Turkey VultureCathartes aura
- Virginia RailRallus limicola
- Yellow-breasted ChatIcteria virens
- Yellow-crowned Night-heronNyctanassa violacea
- American CrowCorvus brachyrhynchos
- American KestrelFalco sparverius
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Bank SwallowRiparia riparia
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black-bellied Whistling-DuckDendrocygna autumnalis
- Black-necked StiltHimantopus mexicanus
- Blue-winged TealAnas discors
- Brewer's BlackbirdEuphagus cyanocephalus
- Caspian TernHydroprogne caspia
- Common GrackleQuiscalus quiscula
- DunlinCalidris alpina
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 King Rail
- 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)









































