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The California clapper rail is a small,
secretive salt marsh bird. |
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The
California clapper rail is a secretive hen-like
salt marsh bird. An endangered subspecies of
the clapper rail, which is still common in the
East, the California clapper rail suffered from
unsustainable hunting during the Gold Rush days
and, more recently, severe habitat decline in
its coastal habitat. An estimated 1,000 California
clapper rails survive, mostly in the salt marshes
of the San Francisco Bay area.
Gray-brown
above with a buffy-cinnamon chest, the California
clapper rail has a long, slightly down-turned
bill and an upturned tail with a white patch
underneath. It grows to a length of about 13
to 19 inches.
The
clapper rail can move quickly through its marshy
habitat, prefering to walk or run and take cover
rather than fly away when frightened or bothered.
Although this furtive bird is hard to spot,
its unmistakable, clattering call often gives
it away.
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California clapper rails probe the mud with
their long beaks to find worms and small
invertebrates. |
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Clapper
rails can move quickly through marshes and
will take cover when frightened or bothered. |
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California
clapper rails probe the mud with their long
beaks in search of worms, mussels, fish and
other small invertebrates.Foraging
for food is one of this bird's most hazardous
activities, as the search leaves it exposed
to predators such as the nonnative red fox and
Norway rat as well as feral cats. The
draining and filling of marshes around the San
Francisco Bay has both destroyed the rail's
habitat and eased access to the marsh for predators.
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The
clapper rail has a long, down-turned, reddish-orange
bill. |
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©
PeterLaTourrette/
birdphotography.com
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These
marsh birds build their nests near tidal sloughs
using cordgrass, pickleweed and other plants.
The male and female birds share incubation and
rearing of the 4 to 14 eggs.
Although
rail chicks are able to leave the nest soon
after they hatch, 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.
Approximately
85 percent of the California clapper rail's
habitat has been lost since the 1850s as a result
of filling and diking. This dramatic loss and
fragmentation of the salt marshes is the main
factor in the population decline of the clapper
rail. But recent efforts to control nonnative
predators and restore the salt marsh habitat
and a recent rail population increase may signal
the start of a recovery for these birds. San
Francisco Bay's Don Edwards National Wildlife
Refuge is home to approximately sixty percent
of the remaining population of California clapper
rails.
