Date: 8/24/25 2:12 pm From: Nate Dias (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: 2025 Article on Clapper and King Rails
Thanks for sharing that article Kevin.
However, it seems to gloss over the fact that significant numbers of King
Rails breed / reside in brackish managed tidal impoundments, especially in
South Carolina. In terms of South Carolina, I estimate that about as many
King Rails reside in (grassy areas of) managed brackish impoundments in
places like Bear Island WMA, Santee Coastal Reserve, Yawkey Wildlife
Center, Donnelley WMA, MANY private plantations, etc. - as occur in inland
freshwater marshes or riverine brackish marshes.
The article states "Rallus elegans is a primarily freshwater species,
although coast-adjacent freshwater and oligohaline marshes serve as
important habitat." No mention of King Rails in managed tidal
impoundments, there or anywhere else in the paper. I think this is a
significant omission.
I wish they had sampled King Rail genetics in as many locations (and
individuals) as they did Clapper Rails, and included brackish managed
impoundments in South Carolina. Heck, they were even at Nemours Plantation
(sampling Clapper Rails), where King Rails occur in grassy brackish tidal
impoundments.
The paper opines that with sea level rise and human-driven hydrology
changes, King and Clapper Rails will be pushed more into proximity which
would increase competition and hybridization. But King and Clapper Rails
have ALREADY been residing in SUPER close proximity in these brackish
managed impoundments for many decades. In many many cases, they reside in
the same impoundments - or adjacent marshes with only a ten foot wide
ricefield dike between them and both forage back and forth into adjacent
salt marsh and brackish/fresh marshy impoundments.
So the future the authors opine about has already been happening for a long
time - but in very specific locations. Every year during shorebird field
work I have multiple sightings of King and Clapper Rails next to each
other, interacting, or in the same binocular view. For example:
flickr.com/photos/offshorebirder2/51158250461/
Also, I see almost as many "Cling" Rails as pure King Rails at places like
the Yawkey Wildlife Center, Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, Bear Island
WMA, and other similar locations in South Carolina.
I expect that if the authors had sampled in tidal managed brackish
impoundments in coastal South Carolina, they would have found a higher
degree of hybridization than the existing study (which may have only
included a handful of birds from fresh/brackish impoundments at Mackay
Island NWR).
So it's a neat paper but I wish it had sampled 50+ more King Rails from the
Yawkey Wildlife Center, Santee Coastal Reserve, Bear Island WMA,
Cheeha-Combahee Plantation, etc.
"These days I prefer to hunt with a camera. A good photograph demands more
skill from the hunter, better nerves and more patience than the rifle
shot." -- Bror Blixen
On Sun, Aug 24, 2025 at 11:18 AM Kevin Kubach <carolinabirds...>
wrote:
> I thought I'd share a relevant article published this year featuring
> Clapper and King Rails from the Carolinas.
>
> Genomic data support interspecific divergence but reveal limited
> population structure and cryptic hybridization in *Rallus elegans* (King
> Rail) and *R. crepitans* (Clapper Rail)
>
> https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/142/3/ukaf011/8118077 >
> Kevin Kubach
> Greenville, SC
>
