‘Light-footed’ Clapper Rail Rallus longirostris flavipes

Newport Back Bay, California. 14 March 2005

Mike’s “On the Rail at Oceanside” post yesterday, and his and Mary’s subsequent comments about Clapper Rails, reminded me of one the most memorable birding encounters I’ve ever had.
Two years ago, on a bright and beautiful morning, I was parked up by some information boards in the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve (south of Los Angeles) when I saw a rail scoot across a channel to my left. Hoping to get a better view I jumped out of the car and ran round to where I anticipated it might emerge, and after a few seconds the beautiful ‘Light-footed’ Clapper Rail in the photographs below suddenly walked out of a tangle of saltgrass right in front of me and started stretching, ’shivering’, and feeding just a few yards away.
Once widespread and widely hunted, the ‘Light-footed’ Clapper Rail is now endangered, a result of loss, degradation, and fragmentation of its wetland habitat - salt-marsh with cordgrass and picklegrass. There are now thought to be less than 200 breeding pairs left, and about 60% of these are found in the Upper Newport Bay, where thanks to a coalition of concerned citizens, Orange County, and the California Department of Fish and Game, the bird is fully protected. To get views like this of such a rare bird left me feeling incredibly privileged and gave me a glow I can still feel today…

All photographs © Charlie Moores