Rail ID (1 Viewer)

[aaron1956]

Is this a Clapper or a King Rail? It was near salt water which makes me lean towards a Clapper but the colors look closer to a King to me. Near Corpus Christi. Jan. 12

 

[aaron1956]

78 views and no replies leads me to believe I am not the only one stumped on this one! That's why Ebird has a Clapper/King option!

 

[Andy Adcock]

Streaking on the back plus face pattern, if this were mine it would go down as King.


A

 

[TLeukering]

Actually, the question was wrong, because the bird is a Virginia Rail. The bill is relatively too long, too thin, and too obviously down-curved for King. Additionally, the bird has an obvious and fairly extensive gray supercilum.

Also, please add a geographical component to the subject title, so that that folks know in what part of the world the bird(s) was (were) found before opening the query, as is laid out in the posting instructions (http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=267793).

 

[Andy Adcock]

Actually, the question was wrong, because the bird is a Virginia Rail. The bill is relatively too long, too thin, and too obviously down-curved for King. Additionally, the bird has an obvious and fairly extensive gray supercilum.

I checked that out but thought this bird looked too big?

In my Sibley it shows an adult King with a grey super like this?


A

 

[aaron1956]

A Virginia Rail is not much larger than a Sora, which I see all the time. This bird was much bigger.

 

[ovenbird43]

Body shape (e.g. long neck) and impression of size look much better for King/Clapper than Virginia Rail, and the former species have varying levels of gray on the head. The boldness of the flank streaking makes me lean toward King, but the Gulf Coast Clapper is more strongly marked than other Clapper races, personally I've left individuals similar to this one unidentified on my own lists.

 

[aaron1956]

Body shape (e.g. long neck) and impression of size look much better for King/Clapper than Virginia Rail, and the former species have varying levels of gray on the head. The boldness of the flank streaking makes me lean toward King, but the Gulf Coast Clapper is more strongly marked than other Clapper races, personally I've left individuals similar to this one unidentified on my own lists.

Thanks ovenbird. I have just checked the Clapper/King on Ebird. Maybe next time I can get a better photo and ID!