A common marsh dweller I hardly see.
Clapper Rails are members of the same family as the Gallinule, Coot, and Sora. Above you can see the large toed feet used to run across marsh and swamp vegetation.
This bird lives along the Southern US coastal marshes down through Central America and the Caribbean. Of course their numbers are shrinking rapidly due to loss of habitat, yet for now they are still common…just very shy.
These Rails are so shy that if moving south from colder areas they only fly at night.
ACE Basin, South Carolina.
We have Virginia rails and they are a little bit different. it’s not easy to find these birds and photograph, they are very skittish.
Great moments and photographs!!!
There are more types of Rails than I thought. The very rare one here is a Sora, but I even see more of them. Thanks.
Great images, Ted. What a find! I was so excited to see a Virginia real only once in my life here in Florida, but I have never seen a Clapper Rail
We never see them either, well we do see the butt end once in a while.
Great sighting and shots, Ted!
I bet this is the one and only time I get this opportunity 😂. He just walked all around the edge of the reeds, like I wasn’t even there.