King Rail (Rallus elegans) | Photos, Calls and ID

NTNear ThreatenedOmnivore

WetlandPlatform nestLarge · 313 g

King Rail (Rallus elegans), photo 4 — Photo: Jody Shugart · CC BY 4.0

King Rail (Rallus elegans), photo 5 — Photo: Vicki Miller · CC0

King Rail (Rallus elegans), photo 6 — Photo: Vicki Miller · CC0

King Rail (Rallus elegans), photo 9 — Photo: Jody Shugart · CC BY 4.0

King Rail (Rallus elegans), photo 10 — Photo: Jody Shugart · CC BY 4.0

What the King Rail sounds like

Sonogram of the King Rail: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.

Recorded by steve · Call · Buxton, Dare County, North Carolina, United States · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

Distinct features are a long bill with a slight downward curve, with adults being brown on the back and rusty-brown on the face and breast with a dark brown cap. They also have a white throat and a light belly with barred flanks. Undertail coverts are white and are displayed by the male during courtship. Immature birds are covered in down, with light brown on the head and darker brown on the back and wings. This bird's call is a low repeated grunt transcribed as kek-kek-kek.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the King Rail

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 11 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is April, the month with the most records.

Where to see the King Rail

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 2 countries with regular records, and 2 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

United States Cuba

Recorded as a rare visitor in Canada, Mexico.

About the King Rail

The king rail is a waterbird, the largest North American rail.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Ridgway's RailRallus obsoletusRidgway's rail is a species of bird found principally along the Pacific coast of North America from the San Francisco Bay Area to southern Baja California, as well as in some regions of the Gulf of California.

African RailRallus caerulescensAdults are 27–28 cm (10.6–11.0 in) long, and have mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey underparts, with black-and-white barring on the flanks and undertail.

Brown-cheeked RailRallus indicusThe species differs from the slightly smaller nominate form through its paler upperparts, brown-tinged underparts and a brown stripe through the eye.

Side by side: King Rail vs Water Rail · King Rail vs Virginia Rail · Clapper Rail vs King Rail · African Rail vs King Rail · Brown-cheeked Rail vs King Rail

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