Rallus elegans
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The king rail (Rallus elegans) is a large, mostly brown rail native to North America, where it breeds in marshes. 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.
The males are larger than females, the male weighing on average 369 g (13.0 oz) and the female weighing 309 g (10.9 oz). This bird's call is a low repeated grunt transcribed as kek-kek-kek. This bird breeds in marshes in eastern North America. Birds along the southeastern coasts of the United States are permanent residents. Other birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico; in Canada, they are found in southern Ontario. An adult king rail will molt completely after nesting and it becomes flightless for almost a month.
This bird is diurnal, contrasting with its smaller, nocturnal relatives. �... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Ciénaga de Zapata | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 3 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a King Rail sighting in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 104 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 169th most-seen of the 279 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a King Rail in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most King Rail sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate King Rail sightings, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Big Cypress National Preserve (United States, about 10%), Ciénaga de Zapata (Cuba, under 5%) and Everglades National Park (United States, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the King Rail is recorded against all the birds logged in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (104 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
