Bird
Virginia Rail
Rallus limicola
A winter visitor to Louisiana, found in 32 of 64 parishes and 5 habitats.
- Here
- Winter
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- 32 of 64 parishes
- Habitats
- 5

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Winter
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- 32 of 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 (37)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Louisiana.
- Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Winter, only within 250 m of water.
- 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.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Summer and winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep 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.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh 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.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Summer and winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer and winter.
- South Florida Cypress Dome Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
- 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.
- 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.
Seasons in Louisiana
- Winter: does not nest here, in 32 of 64 parishes.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 105
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Louisiana. Shared habitat, not food.
- TitiCyrilla racemiflora
- PondberryLindera melissifolia
- Macranthera flammeaMacranthera flammea
- Common WaxmyrtleMorella cerifera
- Pinus elliottii var. elliottiiPinus elliottii var. elliottii
- 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
- Trumpet-creeperCampsis radicans
- Shoreline SedgeCarex hyalinolepis
- Carphephorus pseudoliatrisCarphephorus pseudoliatris
- ButtonbushCephalanthus occidentalis
- LeConte's ThistleCirsium lecontei
- Cliftonia monophyllaCliftonia monophylla
- Toothache GrassCtenium aromaticum
Wildlife 251
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Louisiana. Not sighting records.
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- Eastern TowheePipilo erythrophthalmus
- European StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Fish CrowCorvus ossifragus
- Forster's TernSterna forsteri
- Great-tailed GrackleQuiscalus mexicanus
- Greater YellowlegsTringa melanoleuca
- Henslow's SparrowAmmodramus henslowii
- Least BitternIxobrychus exilis
- Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus
- Lesser ScaupAythya affinis
- Lesser YellowlegsTringa flavipes
- Little Blue HeronEgretta caerulea
- Little GullHydrocoloeus minutus
- Long-billed DowitcherLimnodromus scolopaceus
- Marsh WrenCistothorus palustris
- Northern ShovelerAnas clypeata
- Northern WaterthrushSeiurus noveboracensis
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Palm WarblerDendroica palmarum
- Peregrine FalconFalco peregrinus
- Purple GallinulePorphyrio martinica
- Reddish EgretEgretta rufescens
- Ring-necked DuckAythya collaris
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 Virginia 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)






































