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Black Rail
Laterallus jamaicensis
Family: RALLIDAE
Order: Gruiformes
Spanish Common Name: Gallinetia negra, Burrito negruzco, Pidencillo, Polluela negra, Gallinetita rayas blancas, Taquita de salinas, Gallinuelita prieta
French Common Name: Râle noir
(c) Ashok Khosla |
Courtesy Kenn Kaufman |
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Conservation Status
Global Population: Unknown
Continental Population: 110,000
Watchlist Status: 
Audubon State of the Birds Status: Highest continental concern
Small as a sparrow and quiet as a mouse, the elusive Black Rail fascinates researchers and birders. Breeding and wintering in the United States, this smallest relative of coots and cranes inhabits a variety of salt and fresh water marshes dominated by grasses and sedges. With the precipitous loss of wetlands in the United States, the Black Rail may be in trouble.
Range & Distribution
The Black Rail breeds on the eastern seaboard from New Jersey to southern Florida and on the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas. A small population of California Black Rails, a subspecies once considered lost, resides permanently in the shrinking estuaries of the San Francisco Bay. Black Rails also occur irregularly through northern Central America and into Chile.
A legend for the range map to the right can be found here.
Population Status & Trends
Recent breeding population trends are difficult to calculate, due to the Black Rail's secretive behavior and scattered populations. The Black Rail was formerly much more common in the interior of the United States, and its breeding ranges have shrunk severely along the coasts.
Conservation Issues & Efforts
Without sufficient data to make a final decision about its status, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have placed the Black Rail into a category which could allow it to be added to the Threatened and Endangered Species List. They have also recommended the Black Rail as a Focal Species, a new designation initiated in 2005, that reflects an urgent conservation need, a realistic chance of success, and the potential to positively affect other species. New York, Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia list the Black Rail as a species of special concern; New Jersey, Connecticut, and California consider it threatened; and in Arizona this marsh bird is endangered. Habitat loss has been a primary factor in the Black Rail's decline. The San Francisco Bay area has lost 85% of its tidal marshes, prime habitat for the California Black Rail.
The Black Rail thrives in extensive, flat "high" marsh, areas which usually occur between marshes with standing water and the dry upland. Areas with periodic fires seem unattractive to this rail and may put it in conflict with management practices designed to encourage other species. Development for recreation, human settlement, pollution, and farming also discourage the Black Rail. Studies are underway to better understand this species' requirements, but its habitat continues to suffer.
What You Can Do
With patience and respect for its fragile habitat, look and listen for the Black Rail on its breeding grounds in early summer.
Black Rails need extensive tracts of marshland or wet meadows. Join the efforts of a local conservation group, like California's Marin Audubon Society, that coordinates volunteers and raises funds for the restoration and preservation of crucial wetlands.
For additional actions you can take, including Audubon activities, please visit our resources page.
For More Information
References
Eddleman, W. R., R. E. Flores, and M. L. Legare. 1994. Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis). In The Birds of North America, No. 123 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists' Union.
Evens, Jules. 1999/2000. "Mystery of the Marsh: the California Black Rail." Tideline: 19 (4) pp. 1-3.
Kaufman, Kenn. Lives of North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1996.
Sibley, David Allen. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
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