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Bird

King Rail

Rallus elegans

A summer resident that nests in West Virginia. Found in 30 of 55 counties, across 4 habitats.

Here
Summer
Nesting
Nests here
Range
30 of 55 counties
Habitats
4

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Summer
Nesting
Nests here
Range
30 of 55 counties
Habitats
4
Habitat models
Summer, Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in West Virginia 4

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

1 of 4

Swamps

The Chickahominy Swamp LCCN2004661405
SummerWinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Swamp SystemsWilliam McIlvaine, The Chickahominy Swamp (1862): wind-tossed swamp trees standing in dark water under a storm. Shown: Chickahominy Swamp, Virginia, a neighboring state.The Chickahominy Swamp LCCN2004661405, William McIlvaine (1813-1867), 1862. Public domain. Source record.

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 marshes

Open, herb-covered wetlands with fresh, non-tidal water.

SummerWinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems

Wet meadows

Open, wet, grassy or sedgy ground that is not a bog.

SummerWinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems
Other habitats in its models (35)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in West Virginia. Those recorded in West Virginia first, the rest by region.

Elsewhere in the South (21)
  • Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Summer and winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer and winter, only within 250 m of water.
  • South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer and winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer.
Northeast (3)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
  • North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer.
Land cover and other classes (11)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
  • Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer.
  • Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Tidal Marsh Systems Summer and winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune) Winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.
  • Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer.
  • Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.

All habitats

Seasons in West Virginia

  • Summer: nests here, in 30 of 55 counties.

Food plants

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Plants matched by genus.

Native plants in these genera 18

Plant genera in its diet records (6)
  • Oryza Seeds. 8 diet records. 0 native plants in West Virginia
  • Echinochloa Seeds. 1 diet record. 3 native plants in West Virginia
  • Leersia Seeds. 1 diet record. 2 native plants in West Virginia
  • Paspalum Seeds. 1 diet record. 5 native plants in West Virginia
  • Polygonum Seeds. 1 diet record. 4 native plants in West Virginia
  • Rhynchospora Seeds. 1 diet record. 4 native plants in West Virginia

Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab), CC0 1.0.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in West Virginia, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Birds 112

Plants 12

All of disturbed and introduced wetlands in West Virginia

Freshwater marshes

Birds 31

Plants 166

All of freshwater marshes in West Virginia

Swamps

Birds 46

Plants 185

All of swamps in West Virginia

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources