King rails are secretive birds of wetlands and though the park does not have much wetland habitat, it is possible that all of the rail species on the park list are at least somewhat more common than observations indicate, especially in Cades Cove.

Feather mites of the genus Grallobia (Pterolichidae; det. B. M. O?Connor) and an unidentified louse were collected from a rail specimen collected in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in August of 1959.

There are four records for this species in the park?s observations database: from Park Headquarters in late October in 1947 (Stupka 1963) and again at the end of August 1976, and from Cades Cove on two different days in May of 1970.

References:

Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the Birds of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville.

Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.