User:Rflores02/Ridgway's rail

Lead:

 * Near-threatened, chicken-like bird that is located predominantly around the San Francisco Bay down to Baja, California
 * Often called clapper rail
 * Scientific Classification
 * The California clapper rail (Rallus longirostris obsoletus) belongs to the order Gruiformes, in the family Rallidae, which includes rails, gallinules, and coots.
 * California clapper rails occur almost exclusively in tidal salt and brackish marshes with unrestricted daily tidal flows, adequate invertebrate prey food supply, well developed tidal channel networks, and suitable nesting and escape cover as refugia during extreme high tides.
 * The California clapper rail now occurs only within the tidal salt and brackish marshes where it is restricted to less than 10 percent of its former geographic range.
 * Densities reached an historical low of about 500 birds in 1991, then rebounded somewhat
 * "An 1897 newspaper account refers to a week in which 5,000 clapper rails were legally killed" (Bay Nature)
 * 1913: Weeks-McLean Law established to limit this superfluous hunting
 * Feeding Ecology: The California clapper rail is an omnivore with a relatively broad feeding niche. Its diet consists of ribbed horse mussel, spiders, clams, yellow shore crabs, amphipods, striped shore crab, and occasionally rodents and small birds.
 * Reproduction: Pair bonding and nest building are generally initiated by mid-February. Nesting may begin as early as late February or early March, and extend through July in the South Bay, and into August in the North Bay. Both sexes share in incubation, which lasts from 18-29 days.

Article body:

 * One of the largest population of Ridgway's rails is in San Francisco Bay, where a total of about 1100 are resident. In the past, however, its geographic range spanned more than 90% of the range of the San Francisco Bay. The California clapper rail (Rallus longirostris obsoletus) belongs to the order Gruiformes, in the family Rallidae, which includes rails, gallinules, and coots.
 * The Ridgeway's rail (Rallus longirostris obsoletus) pertains to the order Gruiformes within the Rallidae family. The California subspecies naturally exists in tidal salt and brackish marshes. These ecosystems are subjected to freely flowing daily tidal flows, a sustainable amount of prey food supply comprised of invertebrates, advanced tidal waterway systems, and apt nesting areas and covered spaces that serve as protection during dangerous high tides.
 * Feeding Ecology: The omnivorous Ridgeway's rail eats many things, including clams, crabs, mussels, and occasionally small rodents and birds.
 * By mid-February, nest building has begun. The Ridgway's rail then breeds (California rail subspecies) in the San Francisco Bay from mid-March through August, with peak activity in late June. During this breeding season the bird density was approximately 0.1 to 0.6 individuals per acre; outside of breeding season densities decline to 0.04 to 0.40 individuals per acre. The twig nest is placed low, sometimes among plant roots, and purple-spotted buff eggs are laid. Eggs are produced in clutches of four to fourteen, with an average yield of 7.6. The incubation period is 18 to 29 days, and the hatching success is 38%, notably less than the similar light-footed rail indigenous to southern California. Incubation is shared between both the male and female Ridgway's rail. Densities reached an historical low of about 500 birds in 1991, then rebounded somewhat. "An 1897 newspaper account refers to a week in which 5,000 clapper rails were legally killed" (Bay Nature); in 1913, the Weeks-McLean Law was established to limit this superfluous hunting and ultimately prompted the resurgence of the species' numbers.

References:
https://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/documents/CaClapperRail5YrReview.pdf

https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=176209#null