Say "Ridgway's Rail" Three Time Quickly

I quickly learned that I was wrong when I said I found my first Clapper Rail over a week ago at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, California. I had seen the familiar Virginia Rail (9 1/2 inches long) just moments before so when I noticed what looked like a Virginia Rail on steroids (14 1/2 inches long) I wondered if I'd found a Clapper Rail. I pulled out my phone and checked my Sibley Guide to Birds app for Clapper Rail and sure enough it looked like a perfect match. I was excited and shared the news with a bystander who corrected me by saying, "It's now a Ridgway's Rail." I was informed that the American Ornithological Union changed the official name over the summer. Well actually the AOU officially accepted the name that James Maley, collections manager at the Moore Lab of Zoology at Occidental College, gave the California Clapper Rail after confirming that the California rails were not genetically the same as east coast Clapper Rails. Now to get my Sibley app to catch up with the times.

I wanted to "clap" when I thought I found a Clapper Rail. I wasn't sure how to "ridg" after finding a Ridgway's Rail, but when I made my first verbal attempt at the name it came out as "Ridgway's Wail". It suddenly sounded like a tongue twister. Try saying Ridgway's Rail quickly three times. Hopefully you do better than I did. Fortunately for me the bird was not hiding in the reeds like most rails when I came upon it so I enjoyed very clear observations of its foraging and preening behaviors.

Ridgway's Rail Fluffing Feathers in Orange County, CA

Ridgway's Rail is an endangered species and is split into three subspecies--California Ridgway's in the San Francisco Bay area, Light-footed Ridgway's between Los Angeles and San Diego, and Yuma Ridgway's in Arizona, Nevada, and eastern California.

The images below were captured while the rail was preening and stretching below a foot bridge in early morning light.

Ridgway's Rail in Morning Light in Orange County, CA

Ridgway's Rail Stretching in the Early Morning Sun of Orange County, CA

The two images below allow a comparison of the Ridgway's Rail from Orange County, California to a Virginia Rail I photographed on Antelope Island in Davis County, Utah. The much smaller Virginia Rail (right) shows a gray face and darker markings around the hind quarters. The bill lacks the bulk seen in the bill of the Ridgway's Rail (left).

It was nice to add a new species to my life list with such an obliging bird. These rails spend most of their lives out of human sight as they live, forage, and nest in dense grassy marshes.

Inconspicuous Birds: Rail, Sora, and Snipe

I started actively birding late in the summer of 2009 after picking up a field guide at Barnes & Noble while on a date with my wife. It was sort of a spontaneous purchase because I saw the guide and remembered my interest in birds as a young boy growing up in Kentucky. My daughter saw my book and decided to buy me some cheap binoculars for my birthday in September. I googled "bird watching in Utah", found the Utah County Birdwatchers Club and the awesome site of utahbirds.org. I attended a club meeting and signed up for not one but two Audubon Christmas Bird Counts (CBC), one in Provo and one in Payson. I was doing a deep dive into a new hobby.

For my first CBC I had the great fortune of being hooked up with a seasoned birder who had moved to Utah after retiring from a long teaching career in Ohio. Fortunately, he had the skills I lacked when it came to identifying birds. To my credit I had boundless enthusiasm. I remember him counting birds from the warmth of his vehicle while I was bounding through fields of snow in freezing temperatures to find something to add to our list. At one point I was standing in the cold under some trees that stood next to a small wetland surrounded by cat tails which had collapsed as a result of previous snowfalls. The water was essentially frozen over except for one small spot where the water was being pumped, probably for farming purposes. As I focused on that one spot I caught a glimpse of something moving beneath the bent over reeds, just a couple feet from where I was standing. All I could see through the thick reeds was the back of what seemed to be a furry mammal. I could see its brown and black body bending and expanding, changing size and shape as it moved beneath the reeds.  I called to my CBC partner. He came over and I pointed and asked, "What is that? It looks like some sort of furry brown animal." A moment later the creature revealed more than just its undulating torso and my partner exclaimed, "That's a Virginia Rail! You'll go out 90 times before you see one of those!" I felt like I had just discovered the coolest thing in the world. I had done something miraculous for the Provo Christmas Bird Count by contributing such a rare beauty!

Since that unique discovery and experience I have attempted to recognize the appropriate habitat for inconspicuous birds such as Virginia Rails, Soras, and Wilson's Snipes. These are birds heard more often  than seen, except for Snipes if you know where to spot them. I've been fortunate and very pleased to have seen and photographed all three of these stealthy little bird species in the very location of my first Virginia Rail discovery on that cold December day outside the small town of Vineyard, Utah.

Below are some of my favorite images of all three species. I encourage you to become part of a Christmas Bird Count this winter.

Virginia Rail at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Davis County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Virginia Rail at Garr Ranch, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Virginia Rail in Vineyard, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Virginia Rail at Sunset in Vineyard, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Sora Dashing Across Frozen Water at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Davis County, UT
(Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Sora in Winter, Vineyard, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Sora in Winter, Vineyard, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Wilson's Snipe in Vineyard, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)