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The King Rail
(Rallus elegans)
has been identified as a focal species of management concern due to severe population declines in the northern, central and eastern parts of its range in North America. Wetland losses to agricultural, urban and industrial developments and degradation of herbaceous wetland habitats in floodplains appear to be the primary factors driving these declines. Other factors that may influence King Rail population levels include collisions with automobiles, collisions with man-made structures during migration, and pollutants.
Date: September 2006
Sources:
Technical Services Committee of the Waterbird Conservation Council. 2006. Marshbird Species Conservation Status Assessment: Species Profiles - King Rail. Downloaded from (http://www.fws.gov/birds/waterbirds/statusassessment/marshprofiles.html) on 9/6/2006.
Poole, A.F., L.R. Bevier and C.A. Marantz. 2005. King Rail
(Rallus elegans)
. The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology; Retrieved from The Birds of North America Online database: (http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/account/King_Rail/) on 9/6/2006.
Species Profile from NatureServe
King Rail Rallus elegans
Description:King rail, Rallidae.
Life History:
Reproduction Comments: In central Ohio, 26 of 34 nests were found during the last half of May (Meanley 1969). Clutch size 6-15 (commonly 8-11) eggs. Incubation 21-24 days, by both sexes. Young tended by both parents, leave nest soon after hatching, first fly at about 9 weeks.
Mobility and Migration Comments: Inland northern populations make extensive seasonal migrations. Breeding populations in the south may be nonmigratory. Apparently moves along the Atlantic coast and Mississippi Valley when returning to nesting areas in the north (Meanley 1969). Arrives in the upper Midwest mostly in April-May; most have departed by October-November (Brewer et al. 1991).
Food Comments: Eats crustaceans, insects and other invertebrates, small fishes, tadpoles, seeds of weeds and aquatic plants, grain; forages in shallow water and on mud flats (Bent 1926). Probes in mud or sand, or picks up food items from the substrate. Water depths at foraging sites typically are less than 10 cm (see Brewer et al. 1991).
Habitat Comments: Freshwater marshes, upland-wetland marsh edges, ricefields or similar flooded farmlands, shrub swamps; locally in brackish and coastal salt marshes (AOU 1983, Sibley and Monroe 1990, Meanley 1969). Nest is an elevated platform, often with a canopy and ramp, attached to plants growing in shallow water (0-25 cm) or placed in a tussock or other waterside vegetation (Harrison 1978, Meanley 1969).
Distribution:
United States: AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WI, WV
Canada: ON
Status:
NatureServe Status:
Global Status: G4,
Global Status Last Reviewed: 12Dec2002,
Global Status Last Changed: 12Dec2002,
Rounded Global Status: G4 - Apparently Secure
Reasons:
Widespread, but has declined significantly in the northern part of its range and may be declining throughout its range. Threatened primarily by habitat loss and degradation.
