King Rail: an Endangered Species

 This Wednesday, Feb 2, 2022, is World Wetlands Day. On average, wetlands don't get a lot of respect. They have been viewed negatively as being in the way to productivity, especially agriculture. Certainly drained wetlands can be extremely productive, especially for certain crop types. But their value to wildlife, their ability to stop or at least slow down flooding and the like, were often ignored. Eventually enough flooding catastrophes occurred and they received an increasing level of protection. Of course it helped that many outdoors people recognized their values to wildlife as well, and organizations like Ducks Unlimited and their members spent untold millions of dollars over the years to help protect them. Provincial and federal agencies also contributed in various ways, resulting in places like St. Clair National Wildlife Area. Provincial and national parks often included significant wetlands within their boundaries.

St. Clair NWA

Rondeau Prov Park

I decided that to highlight World Wetlands Day, I would feature the King Rail. King Rail has only been known to breed in significant wetlands across the southern parts of Ontario, and has never been abundant. There are a small number of observations in areas slightly north of southern Ontario, but I am not aware of any confirmed breeding. It has been officially listed as an Endangered Species for around three decades, primarily due to the diminishing of its wetland habitat.

I have a copy of an unpublished manuscript, written in the later 1940s, entitled "The Birds of Kent County, Ontario" by A. A. Wood. He researched and quoted from almost 100 sources of information on birds, including some of the best known naturalists of the previous several decades. Some of the names that frequently crop up in his writing include J. L Baillie, A. C. Bent, Thomas McIlwraith, G. T. McKeough, Ed. W. Sandys, W. E. Saunders, G. M. Stirrett and P. A. Taverner.

Wood has an entry for King Rail, and I include part of it here: 

King Rail (Rallus elegans)--A rather scarce summer resident except at the St. Clair marshes where it breeds regularly. Morden and Saunders, in 1882, listed it as "common at the St. Clair flats where it breeds". McIlwraith said in 1884, 'is now known to breed plentifully at the St. Clair flats". Baillie and Harrington state "This rail occurs as a breeding species in various marshes on Lakes St. Clair and Erie.......it is not common in Ontario except at St. Clair flats". 

Wood goes on to include writings by various field people describing their findings of adults with young as well as nests with eggs. He also lists various observations dating to the 1880s as well as a few examples of eggs that were collected, back in the 1890s. Of course egg collecting was commonplace in that era. He mentions that the average arrival date over a four year period was April 23, with the earliest being April 3, 1945.

One of the places where King Rail was found back in that day, was well away from these lake side wetlands. It was at a fairly large inland marsh at Thamesville, in May of 1921. Although that wetland still exists, sort of, it has deteriorated considerably due to being almost totally taken over by the invasive Common Reed (Phragmites australis). These next two photos show a side-by-side capture of this wetland at the western side of Thamesville. It is solid Phragmites, with very little wildlife value.

The status of King Rail in Ontario since Wood's writing has since declined. It is not common anywhere, even the St. Clair flats, which was the accepted name for the collection of many marshes bordering Lake St. Clair. The wetlands at Walpole Island First Nation, shown below, is one of the largest contiguous marshes in these lakes. However the vast majority of it is inaccessible.

Walpole Island First Nation

 If one spends a lot of time in the vicinity of some of the major wetlands, such as those along Lakes St. Clair and Erie, one may still find evidence for King Rail. But don't count on seeing them. If you are very fortunate, and can distinguish the calls of King Rail from the much more abundant and similar sounding Virginia Rail, you might be able to hear one. Sightings anywhere in Ontario are extremely rare. And finding a nest? Forget about it. I had the privilege of being with a fellow birder back in 1978, and we came across a King Rail nest. We documented it and reported it to the Ontario Nest Record Scheme, part of the Royal Ontario Museum's program. These next two images are, of course, scanned from slide film taken on that occasion.

 To my knowledge, that was the last time a nest has been found in Ontario! That isn't to say that they haven't occurred, but the habitat they occur in is almost impossible to get through. The nest site we found was actually somewhat approachable, due to the fact that we had a small boat and chest waders. Unfortunately the site had the water levels altered in subsequent years, and there hasn't been suitable habitat for King Rail there for about 4 decades.

One of the highlights of late summer 2019 was to discover a King Rail at a wetland in southern Chatham-Kent. A bonus was to discover one, and possibly three, almost fully grown young! The site was reasonably accessible, so I decided to try for some new photos to add to my collection. I headed out, and very carefully got into a position where I thought I would have a reasonable chance to see some movement of the rails scurrying around for food. I had the maximum telephoto combination, to ensure the best quality images from a distance so as to minimize any disturbance if the birds should show themselves. After waiting patiently and quietly, I saw some movement: a rail!

But it clearly wasn't a King Rail. It was a much smaller rail called a Sora. It scooted about for a short time, but eventually disappeared into the denser vegetation.

After a bit more patient waiting, this young King Rail appeared from behind some vegetation.

It came a bit closer, but was wary, slowly and cautiously moving across the more open area...

...but eventually decided a less open bit of the habitat was more to its liking.

I kept an eye open for an adult. Sure enough, a little bit of movement got my attention. Can you see the adult King Rail in the next photo? It is in the centre, staring at us.

It came out a little more, but cautiously just like the younger one.

It came out into the open more and more, allowing me to get a few photos. All of these are well cropped, but quite acceptable since it was out in the full open spot, at least for a short time.

I've heard a couple of King Rails since that event, but always in the spring or very early summer when they are typically more vocal. None have been reported from this particular site, however. Hopefully with the efforts of the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, some successful discoveries of this incredible bird will be documented.

 

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Mostly Water Birds

 It is that time of year, when most water is frozen, that an open spot is where water birds can be found. And since most other birds are scattered far and wide, and difficult to photograph, any place of open water is a worthwhile place to check out.

One of my 'go to' places this time of year is a warm water outlet along the Thames River, on the downstream side of Chatham. There can be hundreds and hundreds of water birds, as this first photo illustrates. There are at least as many other birds upstream, to the right, of this image.

Canada Geese can be fairly abundant......

....but a closer look reveals these two very similar Cackling Geese with their shorter, stubby neck, smaller body size compared to nearby Canada Geese, and a stubbier bill.

There is often a variety of other ducks that have dropped in, sometimes for a day, or sometimes longer, such as this female Bufflehead.

This male Wood Duck is one of the most vividly colored ducks.

American Black Ducks are more common in winter.....

.....and when the opportunity arises, will try out a fish dinner, although it has to be quick as other ducks and gulls will attempt to go after it, hoping that their harassment will force the duck to give it up.

It is not uncommon to see a duck that has a mix of Mallard and Am Black Duck genes. This next photo shows an Am Black Duck with a distinctive green stripe on the head, likely indicative of some Mallard heritage at some point in its past.

 Mallards are, of course, one of the most abundant species anywhere, and this location is no exception. Probably at least 95% of the waterfowl here are Mallards.

 

 

A female Common Merganser is occasionally present...

...as is a Common Goldeneye. You can see that the ice is a common resting place for the waterfowl!

I much prefer this photo; the same bird, but location, location, location makes all the difference in the appeal of the photo!

Pied-billed Grebes are very uncommon at this time of year. This is one I saw on the St. Clair NWA Christmas Bird Count at the beginning of the month, just a short distance down stream from this spot. Apparently it has decided to hang around for the time being.

There is often a small number of gulls cruising up and down the river, or stopping in for a rest, such as these two Herring Gulls were observed doing.

Not really a water bird, but crows are scavengers and there is often a handful in the immediate vicinity waiting for an opportunity.

Just upstream from this spot is where a Peregrine Falcon sometimes overwinters, as it is able to feed opportunistically on a large flock of Rock Pigeons that hang out on some of the commercial buildings. I haven't seen any sign of the falcon yet this year, and presumably the pigeons are resting more comfortably. And even though some of the buildings have added fake Great Horned Owl and Peregrine Falcon decoys on top of the buildings to scare the pigeons, clearly they haven't had much effect, as this next photo shows. I haven't seen any pigeons land right on the owl, but certainly within a couple of metres! The sky leaves a lot to be desired, at least from a photographic perspective.

The ice is building rapidly out in Lake Erie, although there are a few open spots within view of Erieau. I was there a couple of days ago and noticed several thousand ducks crammed in to three open spots, two out in the lake and one in the bay. This first photo is immediately across the main channel. There were probably at least a couple of thousand ducks there, the majority of which were Greater Scaup, with Redhead, Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Bufflehead and Common Goldeneye mixed in, but in much smaller numbers.

There were flocks in the air regularly, as birds moved around from one open spot to another.

After leaving Erieau, I went to Rondeau for a nice long walk, and always on the lookout for birds. Birds were few, and even a usually active bird feeder was devoid of birds, which probably was due to this non-bird critter rooting around for something to eat.

Along the water front was this adult Bald Eagle, perhaps waiting for something to drift by.

Today, I went out to where the Pump Road meets the Thames River, and had a lot of ducks in the open spot a few days ago, including Snow and Greater White-fronted geese. There were very few ducks or geese of any kind on this visit, but I did see this light-phase Rough-Legged Hawk on the prowl along the grassy bank, hoping to flush something out to chase down. It was always facing away from me, so this is the best I could do.

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Early New Year Outings, Before the Snow and Cold

 Since the Christmas Bird Count season is well past, I have altered my outings a bit. Certainly a few visits to places like Rondeau Prov Park have been in order, but as the winter progresses, birds have become fewer. However there are still great reasons for getting out! I have spent some of the time just going for long walks through the forest roads and trails. Much of the time it seems I have the place to myself, which I don't mind.

I quite enjoy the incredible diversity in the shades of gray and green in winter, which can vary quite a bit depending on the direction and intensity of light. As Rondeau is an example of old growth forest, it shows how tree trunks are not always perfectly straight, as you typically see in a plantation.

Yellow Birch root systems are often interesting. The seeds sprout on things like a fallen tree trunk or other root system. As they grow, they can show curious forms such as this one.

Fungi are still visible, at least the hardier ones like the bracket type of fungus shown next.

Northern Cardinals can be fairly abundant, and the males really stand out. In spite of their relative abundance now, it was just a little more than a century ago when they were first recorded breeding in Ontario, and only in the extreme southwest at Point Pelee. They certainly have expanded their range, as birds do. Now they are seen somewhat regularly well into Northern Ontario, even as far as Moosonee.

One day in my travels, I was out checking to see if a Wilson's Snipe had shown up at its usual wintering spot, in a spring fed stream southeast of Blenheim. As far as I know, it hasn't been seen by anyone there yet, but once the more intense cold arrives, along with a bit of snow, it will likely appear.

Snipe from a previous year

I did see this Red-tailed Hawk comfortably perched on a road-side snag, looking over a few juncos and tree sparrows beneath it. 

However its nervousness regarding my camera sticking out the window overcame its comfort, and off it went.

I had been out to Lighthouse Cove at the mouth of the Thames River, as well as points farther west a few days ago, to cover my area for the mid-winter waterfowl survey. It was just after a recent cold snap, and the ice kept most waterfowl beyond view. In an open spot at the river mouth, I did see a few Double-crested Cormorants....

...and a Hooded Merganser.

An adult Bald Eagle was perched in a tree right along the road, seemingly not bothered by traffic frequently passing almost right below. I managed a couple of photos.....

.....but as with the Red-tail, a stopped vehicle and a camera made it decide to move on.

At Jeannette's Creek where it meets the Thames River, there were about a dozen Great Blue Herons looking a little out of place.

A couple of days ago I went back out to see what was at the river's mouth. The ice had taken over almost completely, and there was only a small opening about half the size of a vehicle, where there were about 8 birds crowded in: two Canada Geese, two Common Mergansers, and four domesticated Mallard types.

I also stopped a bit upstream of the river's mouth, as there was an opening with several hundred geese. Included were 12 Snow Geese, including at least 4 blue phase.....

...and eight Greater White-fronted Geese. We had 5 on the SCNWA CBC, and it is quite likely that they were part of this group. Most were tucked in to the larger group of geese, and difficult to photograph, but one or two were more or less out on their own.

Yesterday I was back at this spot, hoping to get some slightly crisper and overall better photos since the light on the previous trip was quite intensive, but alas, they had been seen leaving this spot a couple of hours earlier. There are still lots of geese hanging around the Chatham area and points downstream, so maybe they will turn up again.

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