Just for fun - how many rails have you seen? (1 Viewer)

[terry jz]

yes double figures
just had a count up and impressed myself

1. coot
2. moorhen
3. water rail
4. spotted crake
5. purple swamphen
6. dusky moorhen
7. buff banded rail
8. american coot
9. sora
10. grey necked wood rail

 

[chowchilla]

Bugger all...

Eurasian Coot.
Red-knobbed Coot.
American Coot
Eurasian Moorhen.
Dusky Moorhen.
Purple Swamphen.
European Water Rail.
African Rail.
African Black Crake.
Sora.
White-breasted Waterhen.
Baillon's Crake.
Buff-banded Rail.
Grey-necked Wood Rail.
White-browed Crake.
Red-necked Crake.

 

[emupilot]

American Coot
Hawaiian Coot
Eurasian Coot
Common Moorhen
Purple Gallinule
Sora
Slaty-breasted Wood-Rail
Virginia Rail
King Rail
Clapper Rail
Black Rail

The San Francisco Bay Area is a great place to see rails. Every winter for the highest tide of the year, I can go and see my fill of Clapper, Virginia, and Sora as they struggle to find dry ground in the salt marshes. There used to be a good spot to see Black Rail at high tide, but I haven't heard of them being seen there in a while. Occasionally, a Yellow shows up but I haven't been fortunate enough to be there on the right day.

 

[gambirder]

16 for me. In idiosyncratic order...

EUROPE
1. Coot
2. Moorhen
3. Water Rail
4. Corncrake (yippee! last day of a wk on Tiree last year)
5. Spotted Crake
6. Sora (Pagham years ago)

AMERICAS
7. King Rail
8. Caribbean Coot
9. Wattled Jacana
(-) Purple thingammybob

AFRICA
10. Black Crake
11. African Jacana
12. Lesser Moorhen
13. Purple Swamphen
14. African Crake
15. Allen's Gallinule
16. White-spotted Flufftail

 

[KFC]

Afraid you'll have to take the jacanas out, Gambirder. They're not rails or crakes.

Ken

 

[gambirder]

Afraid you'll have to take the jacanas out, Gambirder. They're not rails or crakes.

Ken

Oops! Down to 14 then! :scribe: What about flufftails?

 

[Jacana]

Oops! Down to 14 then! :scribe: What about flufftails?

depends on who you follow for taxonomy. Some like IOC split them into their own family, others haven't/have yet to implement the change like Clements.

 

[canadagurl123]

one more in hawaii
Hawaiian Coot

 

[KFC]

Oops! Down to 14 then! :scribe: What about flufftails?

Oh - I think you can have flufftails. :t:

 

[Birdingcraft]

Check out below Edward :t: :-O :-O
1 White-spotted Flufftail
2 Buff-spotted Flufftail
3 Red-chested Flufftail
4 Nkulengu Rail
5 Swinhoe's Rail
6 Yelow Rail
( You have to WORK to get tthe last 2! )
7 Speckled Rail
8 Red-necked Crake
9 Red-legged Crake
10 Slaty-legged Rail
11 Russet-crowned Crake
12 Rusty-flanked Crake ( reasonably "easy" in Yacambu N.P., Venezuela )
13 White-throated Crake
14 Grey-breasted Crake
15 Black Rail
16 Weka
17 Okinawa Rail ( surprisingly easy, they come out onto lawns first thing in the morning )
18 Barred Rail
19 Buff-banded Rail ( s.l. )
20 Slaty-breasted Rail
21 Clapper Rail
22 King Rail
23 Virginia Rail
24 Water Rail
25 African Rail
26 Lewin's Rail
27 African Crake
28 Corn Crake
29 Rouget's Rail
30 Snoring Rail
31 Inaccessible Rail
32 Rufous-necked Wood Rail
33 Grey-necked Wood Rail
34 Uniform Crake
35 Bare-eyed Rail
36 Brown Crake
37 Isabelline Bush-hen
38 Rufous-tailed Bush-hen
39 White-breasted Waterhen
40 Black Crake
41 Little Crake
42 Baillon's Crake ( on 4 continents! )
43 Spotted Crake
44 Australian Crake
45 Sora ( Crake )
46 Ruddy-breasted Crake
47 Band-bellied Crake
48 Spotless Crake
49 Yellow-breasted Crake
50 White-browed Crake
51 Striped Crake
52 Spotted Rail
54 Watercock
54 Purple Swamp-hen ( s.l. )
55 Takahe ( easy on Tiritiri Matange, off Aukland )
56 Allen's Galinule
57 ( Am. ) Purple Gallinule
58 Gough Moorhen
59 Common Moorhen
60 Dusky Moorhen
61 Lesser Moorhen
62 Spot-flanked Gallinule
63 Black-tailed Native-hen
64 Red-knobbed Coot
65 Black ( Eur. ) Coot
66 American Coot
67 Caribbean Coot
68 White-winged Coot
69 Red-gartered Coot
70 Red-fronted Coot

Chris
p.s. I like Rails :t: :t: :t:

Wow Chris. What a list to drool over! Where did you see Swinhoe's Rail?

 

[Nightjar61]

Twenty-four for me. Seen in the United States, Honduras, Peru, Colombia, United Kingdom, Tunisia, Gambia, Senegal, United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia.

01. Yellow Rail
02. Black-banded Crake
03. Ruddy Crake
04. Black Rail
05. Clapper Rail
06. King Rail
07. Virginia Rail
08. White-breasted Waterhen
09. Black Crake
10. Sora Rail
11. Spotted Rail
12. Plumbeous Rail
13. Purple Swamphen
14. African Swamphen
15. Gray-headed Swamphen
16. Purple Gallinule
17. American Gallinule
18. Common Moorhen
19. Lesser Moorhen
20. Spot-flanked Gallinule
21. Red-knobbed Coot
22. Eurasian Coot
23. American Coot
24. Slate-colored Coot

In Colombia, I was with a few feet of a pair of calling Bogota Rails, but they never did show. Definitely one of the most frustrating experiences in all my years of birding.

Dave

 

[Tero]

american coot
eurasian coot
moorhen
sora

never made the Florida trip yet, and San Francisco was just city parks
and this swampy area is the smallest of all my birds...still missing some herons etc too

 

[Steve Lister]

A mid-table 42 for me, plus three heard-only.

Steve

 

[Microtus]

10 species (splitting the North American and European moorhens) and 11 if you count the Purple Swamphens in Florida.

King Rail
Clapper Rail
Virginia Rail
Sora
Black Rail
Common Gallinule (the North American form)
Purple Gallinule
the Purple Swamphens in Florida
American Coot
Moorhen (in Europe)
Eurasian Coot

 

[Mysticete]

where did you get the black rail?

 

[Nightjar61]

where did you get the black rail?

I saw my Black Rail in downtown Chicago, of all places. I was birding at the "Magic Hedge", a migrant trap at Montrose Beach on the lakefront, when someone called out "Black Rail"! Birders from all around converged on the spot.

It was walking in the sand along a pathway right at our feet. And when it moved into a small clump of grass, it completely disappeared, illustrating how secretive they can be.

Dave

 

[Jon Turner]

A mere 17, I think, but looking at Chris' list, I give up!

Jon

 

[DMW]

Where did you see Swinhoe's Rail?

I've seen Swinhoe's Rail in winter at Poyang Lake in SE China. As far as I am aware, this is the best site for it. As Chris observes, you need to put in a bit of effort - i.e. tramp through miles of damp grassland, with your heart in your mouth every time you flush a Japanese Quail!

 

[snowcap]

42 species for me.Favourite is still Corncrake.

 

[Birdingcraft]

I've seen Swinhoe's Rail in winter at Poyang Lake in SE China. As far as I am aware, this is the best site for it. As Chris observes, you need to put in a bit of effort - i.e. tramp through miles of damp grassland, with your heart in your mouth every time you flush a Japanese Quail!

Not sure if I will ever get there but thanks-good to know!