Virginia Rail - (Rallus limicola)


[NO LOCAL IMAGE YET]		 I first saw this freshwater marsh bird in 1993 while exploring Fig Lagoon near Seeley. A pair of them ran quickly from the brush across a clearing to more brush.

I searched for them in later years and was rewarded with the experience of seeing three small black chicks being fed by a parent. The adult brought small mud worms first, later it minced up a small minnow into small pieces and fed them one by one.

I have seen other individuals since then, at the Salton Sea and other marshes, but that was the only time where I saw evidence of them actually breeding in the Imperial Valley.

If you are interested in learning more about this bird online - I recommend you start with the Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/infocenter.html

They present photographs, songs, identification tips, maps, and life history information for North American birds - including the Virginia Rail

OTHER OUTSIDE LINKS FOR THIS BIRD:

The Virginia Rail - Very nice photograph (taken in the nearby Anza-Borrego Desert State Park) presented on the "Bird Photography.com" Web site.

Rail Project Update - Radio-tagging and tracking marsh birds project displayed by the "San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory" site. Click the links at the bottom of their page for photographs and more information.

Species Account - Presented by the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology's "Animal Diversity Web" site.

The following "WAV" format sound file is copyright protected by Doug Van Gausig of Sedona, Arizona, as part of the "Sounds of Nature" Web site:

(BIRDING TIP: Hit two cobble stones together and try to duplicate this sound in the spring and a rail may answer!)

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This site is maintained by:

Eldon R. Caldwell
Imperial Valley College
Email: eldonc@imperial.cc.ca.us