Clapper Rails (Rallus longirostris)* are more often heard than seen. They are named after the clapping-like “kek” sound they make, the soundtrack behind our saltwater and brackish marshes. Several years ago, before the big rehab of the Saltmarsh Center at Marine Park, I had my best view of this species. One kept emerging from the reeds as I sat just a couple of yards away, to forage and carry its food back into the reeds; for its young, I assumed. And now, post-reconstruction of the marsh, I’ve spotted another… barely. Do you see it? That’s a preening Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) there on the right.
Let’s get a little closer in this awful light for photography. That’s a Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) in the water in the foreground.
And closer still.
*Update: in 2014, this species was split into two by the High Lords of Ornithology: the Atlantic, like this one, Rallus crepitant, and the California/Arizona, R. obsoletus.
Clapper
5 responses to “Clapper”
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My best view ever was one that came out into the open and preened for 15 minutes! Mostly they’re a quick view as they run across the open space between two stands of reeds.
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“Quick”? Like lightning chickens.
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Very nice…glad to see Marine Park prospering well……a rebirth !
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[…] of the marsh rails: a few years ago, one was even in Prospect Park, showing itself regularly. (Clapper Rails, meanwhile, are relatively common in our parts, or at least their edges like Marine Park, but more […]
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[…] a previous encounter out there: note that I used the old binomial. The Atlantic and California/Arizona subspecies were split in […]
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