The Virginia Rail
By Gail Cleveland
CLICK HERE FOR .PDF VERSION
|
Hear the Virginia Rail sing!
CLICK
HERE (.wav file) |
Virginia Rails are
solitary, seldom-seen birds of the marsh, but if you
ever see them in a group, they will probably be in
migration or out in the open because of flooding in
their home range. If you are lucky enough to see them in
a group, you will have seen a reel of rails. Wow! A
Scottish dance of wetland creatures. Personally, I have
rarely seen a solitary Virginia Rail, but each
experience has been a memorable one.
Their closest, more visible relative in our area is the
American Coot, who is often seen in large numbers
swimming in summer ponds; another elusive relative is
the Sora who, like the Virginia Rail, inhabits our
wetlands along ponds and streams. All three have feet
similar to a chicken, although the Coot has lobbed feet,
but none are webbed like ducks, in spite of their watery
habitat. Small stubby tails are indicative of all
members of this family which has 140 species worldwide,
10 of which are now extinct.
My first view of a rail was early in the “birding
experience” years for my husband Bruce and me. We had
stopped at the Bowdoin Wildlife Refuge in Eastern
Montana near Malta. On one of our walks, we heard a most
unusual descending whinny coming from the reeds in front
of us. After searching our field guide, we were quite
sure that we were near a Sora. Rails and their close
relatives, like the Sora, are very vocal, although
secretive. After listening and waiting quietly, we
caught sight of a small, gray bird with a short tail
racing soundlessly through the reeds ahead of us. One
glimpse---that is the usual view one gets of a rail. The
Sibley guide says that Virginia Rails and Soras
sometimes walk and feed in full view. This is rare in my
experience.
My first sight of a Virginia Rail was in full view;
however, the circumstances were not the norm. Bruce and
I had heard one at a lower Flathead Valley pond. The
call is as distinctive as the Sora’s. It can be
described as a piglike grunting, both descending and
accelerating. Frustrated by our inability to see the
secretive bird, we returned with tape recorder in hand,
hoping to persuade one into view. We played the tape of
its call; Mr. Rail responded. As we looked out the car
window, frustration set in again. No movement; no more
calls. I happened to look down for a moment. There he
was, right next to the car, and he was beautiful! Long
red bill, rich reddish breast with striped black and
white flanks. What a treat! He had followed the call to
its origin.
And then he was gone, melting into the marsh vegetation.
Audubon wrote of his relative the Clapper Rail in his
Birds of America (1842): “On the least appearance of
danger, they lower the head, stretch out the neck, and
move off with incomparable speed, always in perfect
silence . . . they have the power of compressing their
body to such a degree as frequently to force a passage
between two stems so close that one could hardly believe
it possible for them to squeeze themselves through.”
Thin as a Rail!
Virginia Rails dine on snails, earthworms, insects and
occasionally fish. Although Virginia Rails have short
wings and rarely are seen in flight, they do migrate
long distances to the southern United States and Mexico.
They can swim to get away from predators, but prefer
walking on land to flying or swimming.
In their home range, the male will put on quite a
display for the female during the breeding season. With
his short wings open and raised above his body, he runs
before the female twitching his tail quickly. At each
pass, he rises to full height, bows and the female bows
in return. Courtship feeding and mutual preening ensues.
Their nests are a pile of matted reeds and other
vegetation and often concealed with a reed or sedge
canopy. Their young are black fluffs that can swim
immediately after hatching and are fed by the adults for
two or three weeks.
So, when you tire of the visible, easy to see, brightly
colored warblers, tanagers, and hummingbirds, take to
the marshes and, hopefully, catch a glimpse of a Sora or
a Virginia Rail, two northwestern Montana species of
this unique wetland family of birds, the Rallidae.
|
