Virginia 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.

Virginia Rails have been recorded twice in the park: early November 1950 and mid-October 1952 (Stupka 1963). In both cases these were birds that had died because of an early winter storm or a possible collision with a building. The first live bird observed in the park was perched in a tree along the Appalachian Trail in mid-May of 1979.

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.