STATUS:
Endangered
APPEARANCE:
Gray-brown above with a buffy-cinnamon chest and a white patch under
the tail. Grows to 13 to 19 inches long; males slightly larger than
females. Long, slightly downward curving bill.
HABITAT:
Salt marshes
RANGE:
San Francisco Bay Area
FOOD:
Worms, mussels, fish and other small invertebrates
BEHAVIOR:
Have an extremely elusive nature, move quickly through marshes and take
cover rather than fly away when frightened or bothered.
OFFSPRING:
Build nests near tidal sloughs using cordgrass, pickleweed and other
plants. Male and female birds share incubation and rearing of the 4
to 14 eggs; chicks are able to leave the nest soon after they hatch,
but many remain with their parents for several weeks. Some rail pairs
nest twice during the breeding season that begins in February and continues
until August.
THREATS:
Human development; predation by nonnative red fox, Norway rat and feral
cats; pollution; and loss and fragmentation of salt marshes as a result
of the draining, filling and diking of marshes in the San Francisco
Bay Area.
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