Rails

I like going "railing", that is, birding for rails.

It was in 1999, when my husband and I took a winter vacation in Texas and found the Laguna Madre Nature Trail, just south of the convention center on South Padre Island. There we became birders! I can't say it was only one event that took us over the hump but rather several. An elderly birder (older than me), standing beside me said, "There's a Least Sandpiper." Like a child birder, I asked "why?" He kindly explained that it was a very small sandpiper about 6" long and had yellow legs and that the other small sandpipers have black legs. It was so simple that I would never forget it.

Then, there was the moment when I looked straight down from the boardwalk and saw a Sora walking out of the marsh grasses into plain view and it stayed long enough for a good photo. Sora is my first rail.

Lastly, there was this birder with a nice scope and he had located a Least Bittern in its view. He made sure that everyone on the boardwalk (a dozen people) had an opportunity to look at this hard-to-find bird. All these events and people, at one small wetland, made us birders.

Everyone, we met there, was friendly and willing to share sightings and birding stories. Therefore, I knew there were Clapper Rails at this wetland and you could hear them (maybe see them) in the early morning and late afternoon. We tried getting to the wetlands early in the morning but I guess it was not early enough for we didn't see any other rails at this place.

My next opportunity to go to Laguna Madre Nature Trail was in 2004. By now, I had seen several birds in the rail family (Rallidae): Purple Gallinule (Florida), Common Moorhen (first in Louisiana), American Coot (everywhere), and Sora (many places), Virginia Rail (Bosque del Apache) but no Clapper Rail.

It was mid-afternoon on a windy day in January. There were not many species of birds to be seen, but my husband and I ended up talking for an hour with fellow Michiganders. Just after they left, we decided to leave too, because we (certainly) would not see any more species. As I walked back to the car, I took one last look out over the marsh and ...!!! There was a Clapper Rail.

I tried to focus the camera on this bird but it was moving quickly through the tall grasses and it disappeared. You could not trace its path because the grasses did not move. Then, there two more Clapper Rails, hunting for food and calling to each other. Wow, not just one rail but three.

From the front view, this rail species is very narrow or thin and after watching these birds for about 10 minutes, the expression "thin as a rail" has a new meaning for us.

I only got one photo that afternoon. but this rail saga will continue.

The references and gear I used for this blog are:
Camera: Canon EOS 10D
Lens: Canon EF100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS USM
Steiner 10x42 Predator Binoculars
The SIBLEY Guide to Birds