Clapper rails released at Seal Beach refuge

Team Clapper Rail, a group of more than 100 individuals and organizations dedicated to breeding, raising and releasing the endangered light-footed clapper rail, started a Species Recovery Program in 1998. Through the Team's highly successful captive breeding and translocation program, 200 birds have been released into Southern California's coastal salt marshes since 2001. On Oct. 16, that number will rise again, with a release of seven birds at the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge, located within Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach. This upcoming release follows a very successful year (2007) for Team Clapper Rail in terms of the number of birds released, and the number of breeding pairs estimated in the wild, the largest statewide breeding population detected since the counts began in 1980.
The light-footed clapper rail is rarely seen in its natural habitat of coastal marshes. The long-legged wading bird’s virtual invisibility is due partly to its crepuscular nature — most of the animal’s activity occurs at dawn and dusk — and, more than that, the bird is unseen because its numbers plummeted so low that it has remained on the endangered species list since 1970. But thanks to the cooperative efforts of local and federal agencies, grassroots organizations and wildlife specialists, we will continue to see more and more of the light-footed clapper rail in the months and years to come.
Team Clapper Rail consists of bird experts from the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, SeaWorld San Diego, the Chula Vista Nature Center, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and independent wildlife biologists. Each agency and individual plays a critical role in the captive breeding protocol.
The Wild Animal Park breeds, hatches and raises clapper rail chicks to support this endangered species.
The 28th annual census of the light-footed clapper rail in California was conducted last year, and 443 pairs of rails exhibited breeding behavior in 19 marshes in 2007. This is the largest statewide breeding population detected since the census began in 1980, representing an 8.3 percent increase over the former high count in 2006, and a 36 percent increase of the 24-year high reached in 1996. It’s also the fourth consecutive year of record-breaking high counts.