General

Clapper Rail: Large, noisy marsh bird with gray or brown upperparts, vertical white-barred flanks and belly, and buff or rust-brown breast. Bill is long and slightly decurved. Eastern population has buff underparts. Gulf coast and western populations have rust-brown underparts. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is more uniformly colored.

Range and Habitat

Clapper Rail: Breeds along Atlantic, Gulf, and California coasts; spends winters north to central California and New Jersey. Preferred habitats include coastal saltwater marshes.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"he-e-eh-heh-heh-heh", "chack-chack-chack"

Interesting Facts

 The rattling call of the Clapper Rail is one of the most common sounds in the marshes. Nesting pairs enhance their pair bond by blending their clatter until they sound like one bird. Biologists refer to this is as a “duet”.

 Common in the East, the subspecies that inhabits California is endangered. They have never recovered from the hunting pressure of the gold rush era and have suffered tremendously from loss of habitat and non-native predators such as the Norway rat and feral cats.

 In 1992 the estimated population of the California subspecies was only 240 birds. Due to efforts on behalf of the bird today they number over 1000.

 A group of clapper rails are collectively known as an "applause", "audience", and "commercial" of rails.

Author

Gary Owen Dick