California Ridgway's Rail

Ridgway's Rail -- Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF-S 55-250mm IS II, 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO: 800

Either somebody did a very effective job of banding the ridgway's rails at Arrowhead Marsh or I'm seeing the same bird over and over again.  It's not surprising they'd all be banded.  They're an endangered species, after all.  California ridgway's rails (one of three subspecies, all endangered) are found only along shorelines of the San Francisco Bay.

It might take a little bit of patience, but the rails are spotted with regularity at Arrowhead Marsh in Oakland.  Part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, which was established to reintroduce the wetlands in which these birds thrive, the marsh is a great place to see birds doing what birds do.  It makes sense that there would be somebody keeping an eye on how the rails are getting along there.

Ridgway's Rail

Ridgway's Rail -- Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF-S 55-250mm IS II, 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO:1000

I've been hitting the Shoreline pretty hard over the last couple of months.  I was excited when the winter birds started to return and that excitement hasn't subsided.  Excitement is probably too strong a word, it's not opening Christmas presents when you're a kid kind of excitement.  I guess it's closer to opening Christmas presents after your kids are grown and out of the house and you know what your wife bought you already because she put it on your credit card and it's a sweater kind of excitement.  I mean, Christmas is Christmas, right?

This morning I spent some time sitting on the lawn with the geese.  There was one white-fronted goose mixed in with the canada geese.  Last week there were three.  This one seemed to hobble a bit, I suspect it might be stuck with an injured leg.  Hard to know, though, it might just like hanging out with those rambunctious canada geese.

I saw this ridgway's rail near the fishing platform.  At least, I think it's a fishing platform.  They aren't rare here, but like soras they seem to like to choose particular moments to expose themselves.  I'm always excited to see one.  There's that word again.