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Bird

Virginia Rail

Rallus limicola

A summer resident that nests in West Virginia. Found in 7 of 55 counties, across 4 habitats.

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

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Summer
Nesting
Nests here
Range
7 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

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

SummerWinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems

Streams, rivers and their banks

Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.

SummerWinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems
Other habitats in its models (38)

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 (23)
  • 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 Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp 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 Cypress Dome 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 Wet Marl Prairie Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer and winter.
Northeast (3)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
Midwest (1)
  • Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Winter, only within 250 m of water.
Land cover and other classes (11)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Tidal Marsh Systems Summer and winter.
  • South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in West Virginia

  • Summer: nests here, in 7 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 205

Plant genera in its diet records (11)
  • Lemna Leaves. 5 diet records. 5 native plants in West Virginia
  • Agropyron 3 diet records. 0 native plants in West Virginia
  • Carex 3 diet records. 161 native plants in West Virginia
  • Polygonum 3 diet records. 4 native plants in West Virginia
  • Scirpus 3 diet records. 11 native plants in West Virginia
  • Bidens Seeds. 2 diet records. 10 native plants in West Virginia
  • Bolboschoenus Seeds. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in West Virginia
  • Chenopodium Seeds. 2 diet records. 4 native plants in West Virginia
  • Leersia Seeds. 2 diet records. 2 native plants in West Virginia
  • Schoenoplectus Seeds. 2 diet records. 6 native plants in West Virginia
  • Setaria 1 diet record. 1 native plant 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

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Birds 92

Plants 303

All of floodplain and bottomland forests in West Virginia

Streams, rivers and their banks

Birds 88

Plants 232

All of streams, rivers and their banks in West Virginia

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources