Bird

King Rail

Rallus elegans

Lives in Virginia all year and nests here. Found in 61 of 133 counties and cities, across 7 habitats.

Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: 61 of 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 7

Adult King Rail, whole bird — **Adult**. (c) Wendy McCrady, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 122411751. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: 61 of 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 7
Habitat models: Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in Virginia 7

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

1 of 7

SummerWinterUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal WetlandDune grassland. Shown: Core Banks, Cape Lookout, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Core Banks dunes, June 2013, Jarek Tuszyński, June 2013. CC BY-SA 3.0. Source record.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt MarshBrackish marsh at a woodland edge. Shown: Fort Fisher, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Fort Fisher brackish marsh and woodland edge, ncwetlands.org, undated. CC0 1.0. Source record.

SummerWinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded SwampNamed place / source context. Shown: Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretation, a neighboring state.View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

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.

SummerWinterAtlantic 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.

SummerWinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Other habitats in its models (26)

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

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.
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 Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog 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.
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.