Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

King Rail (Rallus elegans)

Abundance: Rare (5 records in 2 counties, 1 in Kentucky and 1 in Tennessee).

Status: Summer Resident formerly; no recent records; designated as an endangered breeding species by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (2004); designated as in need of management by the Tennessee Division of Natural Heritage (2004); sight records.

Regional High Count: 3 (30 July 1952; Lake northeast of McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee; Albert F. Ganier; Ganier 1952).

Information on Records: 

1 June 1930 (nest--11 eggs) near Albany, Clinton County, Kentucky (Albert F. Ganier; Ganier 1935a).

15 August 1932 (1 heard) marsh northeast of McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee (Henry M. Stevenson; Stevenson 1933).

26 May 1935 (2) marsh near Morrison, southwest of McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee (Albert F. Ganier, H. O. Todd, John Calhoun; Ganier 1935b).

1 May 1939 (2 nests--one with 9 eggs and one with 7 eggs) marsh near Morrison, southwest of McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee (H. O. Todd; Todd 1944).

30 July 1952 (3) lake northeast of McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee (Albert F. Ganier; Ganier 1952).

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: No registrations.

Breeding: Confirmed (Historical).  Nest with 11 eggs noted by Albert F. Ganier 1 June 1930 in a marshy sinkhole near Albany, Clinton County, Kentucky (Ganier 1935a); also nest with 7 eggs and nest with 9 eggs found by Henry O. Todd 1 May 1939 in a marsh near Morrison, Warren County, Tennessee (Todd 1944).  No recent records and no other evidence of breeding.

Habitat: Marshes, sometimes fairly small ones (i. e., 1.5 hectares in the case of the marsh near Morrison, Warren County, Tennessee).

Remarks: 

Counties with Observations (boldfaced):

To see a map (Figure 1) displaying the data in the table above, click on the bold-faced word in this sentence.

Literature Cited