Bird
Black Rail
Laterallus jamaicensis
Lives in Virginia all year and nests here. Found in 31 of 133 counties and cities, across 8 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 31 of 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 8

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- 31 of 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 8
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Virginia 8
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.




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.
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.
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.
Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.
Other habitats in its models (16)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal 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.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter.
Seasons in Virginia
- Year-round: nests here, in 14 of 133 counties and cities.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 4 of 133 counties and cities.
- Summer: nests here, in 28 of 133 counties and cities.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 132
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food.
- Pineland BeaksedgeRhynchospora perplexa
- Swamp DockRumex verticillatus
- Widgeon-grassRuppia maritima
- Threadleaf ArrowheadSagittaria filiformis
- Broadleaf ArrowheadSagittaria latifolia
- Coastal Plain WillowSalix caroliniana
- Black WillowSalix nigra
- Lizard's-tailSaururus cernuus
- Softstem BulrushSchoenoplectus tabernaemontani
- Pink BogbuttonSclerolepis uniflora
- Slender Sea-purslaneSesuvium maritimum
- Giant BristlegrassSetaria magna
- Lacelip Ladies'-tressesSpiranthes laciniata
- Sago PondweedStuckenia pectinata
- Swamp RedbayTamala palustris
- Pond CypressTaxodium ascendens
- Eastern Marsh FernThelypteris palustris var. pubescens
- Greater Marsh St. John's-wortTriadenum walteri
- Southern CattailTypha domingensis
- Broadleaf CattailTypha latifolia
- Carolina Yellow-eyed-grassXyris caroliniana
- Fringed Yellow-eyed-grassXyris fimbriata
- Southern Wild-riceZizaniopsis miliacea
- Marsh DewflowerMurdannia keisak
Wildlife 239
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Virginia. Not sighting records.
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- CanvasbackAythya valisineria
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Common YellowthroatGeothlypis trichas
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great EgretArdea alba
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Green HeronButorides virescens
- Horned GrebePodiceps auritus
- Least SandpiperCalidris minutilla
- Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus
- Marsh WrenCistothorus palustris
- Peregrine FalconFalco peregrinus
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
- Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpres
- Sharp-shinned HawkAccipiter striatus
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 Black 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)









































