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Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1789)
Eastern Black Rail
Federal Protection: Listed Threatened
State Protection: Threatened
Global Rank: G3T1
State Rank: S1
Element Locations Tracked in Biotics: Yes
SWAP 2015 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): Yes
SWAP 2025 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): Yes
2025 SGCN Priority Tier: Highest Conservation Concern
Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 3
Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Very shallowly flooded freshwater marshes; brackish marshes, and salt marshes
The smallest rail in North America (15 cm total length; ~35 g total mass), this stealthy little bird is rarely detected as it moves furtively through the dense grasses, sedges, and other herbaceous vegetation of its shallowly flooded wetland home. Adults are pale to blackish gray in color with a chestnut brown patch on the nape and upper back. The back, upper wings, and dorsal area of the tail are shades of gray, sometimes with a chestnut wash, and with scattered white spots. Undertail coverts and flanks are streaked with white and dark gray and washed with chestnut. The bill is dark gray to black, somewhat similar in shape to that of a red-winged blackbird’s. Eyes are bright red and legs are grayish in color.
The sora (Porzana carolina) can look similar to the black rail but is significantly larger (22 cm total length; 75 g total mass) and not as dark in color, with a medium gray face, throat, and upper chest. The crown is brown and this color extends down the back of the neck to the upper shoulder area. Upper wings and tail are mostly brown with some black and many of the feathers have a thin white edge. Flanks have large black and white vertical streaks. Legs are yellowish-green. The bill is yellow and shaped similar to that of a chicken. A black mask covers the front of the face between the eye and base of the bill and extends down the front of the throat to the upper chest. Fledgling Virginia rails (Rallus limicola), clapper rails (Rallus crepitans), and king rails (Rallus elegans) also can look similar to the black rail. Virginia rails are rare breeders in Georgia, so it is improbable fledglings would be encountered. However, they can easily be distinguished from black rails by their completely black plumage and yellow bill with black ring. Clapper and king rail fledglings are completely black and have a longer bill than black rails.
High elevation areas of saltmarsh (high marsh) that are infrequently inundated by tides, very shallowly flooded freshwater marshes dominated by grasses and sedges, wet meadows, and flooded grassy fields. Saltmarsh habitat is dominated by cordgrass (Spartina patens, S. alterinflora, S. bakeri), saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), black needle rush (Juncus roemerianus), and occasionally glasswort (Salicornia virginica). Freshwater sites are dominated by grasses, rushes, and sedges. Ideal habitat is usually areas of moist soils with scattered small pools.
Small terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates including weevils, predaceous diving beetles, other beetles, true bugs, plant hoppers, flies, earwigs, grasshoppers, ants, other insects, spiders, isopods, and snails. Seeds including bulrush, cattail, cordgrass, and others.
Information on the phenology of breeding and many aspects of the life history of the Eastern black rail is limited. Based on information from Florida and South Carolina, breeding in Georgia likely starts in April with initiation of calling and pair formation. Nest building probably begins in late April to early May. The nest is a well-defined bowl made of fine herbaceous vegetation (particularly grasses) with a canopy of dead or living vegetation woven over the top. A ramp of dead vegetation leads from the ground to an entrance on one side of the nest. In Florida, plants used to construct the nest included cordgrass (Spartina bakeri, Spartina spp.) and needle rush (Juncus spp). Clutch size is normally 7-8 eggs (range 4-13 eggs) with one egg laid per day. Both adults share in incubation duties, which last approximately 19-20 days. In Florida, eggs hatched between 19 May and 25 July with peak hatching between 4 June and 6 July. Chicks are semiprecocial, leaving the nest within a day, but staying close by for several days. Parents return to the nesting area at night during this time, likely indicating that they brood the young during this period. Circumstantial evidence suggests that Eastern black rails will renest after nest failure and also likely produce second clutches. Juveniles can disperse widely after the breeding season.
Nocturnal call playback surveys were conducted at over 100 points in high elevation areas of salt and brackish marshes and some freshwater marshes in Coastal Georgia during the breeding season in 2013-2015 as part of an imperiled species status assessment. No black rails were detected during these surveys. More extensive and intensive nocturnal call playback surveys were conducted at 409 points within high elevation salt and brackish marsh as well as natural freshwater marshes and impoundments along the immediate coastline in 2017. Each of these 409 points was surveyed three times. There were no confirmed black rail detections during these surveys. An additional 206 points were surveyed in 2018. The majority of these were at freshwater sites in interior areas of the Coastal Plain, mostly in the area surrounding Valdosta, where many herbaceous freshwater wetlands exist. Unfortunately, there were no black rail detections at any of these survey points. Call playback surveys should be conducted in the future in likely habitats throughout the Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Ridge & Valley ecoregions. Revisiting the points surveyed in 2017 and 2018 might be warranted.
Breeding along the Atlantic Coast in salt and brackish marshes from Connecticut to Virginia. Year-round resident from North Carolina to south Florida. Concentrations in New Jersey; Chesapeake Bay; Cedar Island, North Carolina; Bear Island WMA, South Carolina; and the St. Johns River, Florida. Year-round resident in Gulf Coast marshes in Florida and Texas. Inland breeding range is thought to include portions of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The only confirmed breeding in Georgia was at a site in the Piedmont (Greene County).
Habitat loss due to ditching, filling, and draining of wetlands. Excessive tidal inundation due to sea level rise and increased frequency and intensity of storms caused by climate change. Predation by mammalian and avian predators, particularly during high tide events (e.g., spring tides) when black rails may be driven out of the marsh to the ecotone with uplands due to severe flooding. Mammalian predators likely include raccoons (Procyon lotor) and may include domestic cats (Felis catus), dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), foxes (Vulpes vulpes, Urocyon cinereoargenteus), and coyotes (Canis latrans). Known avian predators include great blue herons (Ardea herodias), great egrets (Ardea alba), northern harriers (Circus cyaneus), great horned owls (Bubo virginianus), ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis), and others.
| Threat 1 | Threat 2 | Threat 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Threat | Climate change & severe weather | Climate change & severe weather | Natural system modifications |
| Specific Threat | Habitat shifting & alteration | Storms & flooding | Dams & water management/use |
There was one record of confirmed breeding (Greene County) by black rails in Georgia during the Breeding Bird Atlas surveys (1994-2001) as well as two records of possible breeding at two coastal sites (Glynn and Camden counties). Black rails were present at the Greene County site most years from the mid-1990s through about 2010. However, most of the habitat at this site has been destroyed and no black rails have been detected in recent years. A few additional sightings have been documented in the state in recent decades; however, these occurred at times when the birds could have been migrating or wintering.
Georgia appears to have suitable high elevation salt and brackish marsh habitat. However, naturally high tidal amplitudes along the Georgia Coast may greatly reduce the number of sites with suitable flooding regimes. Sea level rise may be exacerbating effects of flooding by increasing the height and duration of tidal inundation. A significant amount of impounded freshwater marsh exists at Altamaha WMA and other sites. These impoundments could provide suitable habitat under the right flooding regime. Land managers should be encouraged to implement practices that will provide shallowly flooded herbaceous wetlands during the black rail nesting season as well as during other times of the year. Unimpounded shallow herbaceous marshes occur throughout portions of the state’s Coastal Plain and Piedmont. Black rails could use these sites for breeding, migration stop-overs, and for wintering. Almost nothing is known about occupancy of these sites and call playback surveys should be conducted to determine whether they are being used by black rails. Any occupied sites could be used as a model for habitat management aimed at providing additional habitat for this bird.
Davidson, L. M. 1992. Black Rail, Laterallus jamaicensis. Pp. 119-134 in Migratory Nongame Birds of Management Concern in the Northeast (K. J. Schneider and D. M. Pence, eds.). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Newton Corner, MA.
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.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, DC.
Harlow, R. C. 1913. Nesting of the Black Rail (Creciscus jamaicensis) in New Jersey. Auk 30:269.
Kerlinger, P., and D. S. Wiedner. 1990. Vocal behavior and habitat use of Black Rails in south Jersey. Records of New Jersey Birds 16:58-62.
Smith, F. M., B. D. Watts, B. J. Paxton and L. S. Duval. 2018. Assessment of Black Rail Status in Georgia, Breeding Season 2017 and 2018 Summaries. Center for Conservation Biology Technical Report Series: CCBTR-18-10. College of William and Mary/Virginia Commonwealth University, Williamsburg, VA. 48 pp.
Sykes, Jr., P. W. 2010. Black Rail. Pp. 144-145 in The Breeding Bird Atlas of Georgia, T. M. Schneider, G. Beaton, T. S. Keyes, and N. A Klaus, eds. University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA.
Todd, R. L. 1977. Black Rail, Little Black Rail, Black Crake, Farallon Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis). Pp. 71-83 in Management of Migratory Shore and Upland Game Birds in North America (G. C. Sanderson, ed.). International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Washington, DC.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2018. Species Status Assessment Report for the Eastern Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis).Version 1.0. (January 2018). U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 4, Atlanta, GA.
Watts, B. D. 2016. Status and distribution of the eastern black rail along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of North America. The Center for Conservation Biology Technical Report Series, CCBTR-16-09. College of William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University, Williamsburg, VA. 148 pp.
Wayne, A. T. 1905. Breeding of the Little Black Rail (Porzana jamaicensis) in South Carolina. Warbler 1:33-35.
Weske, J. S. 1969. An ecological study of the Black Rail in Dorchester County, Maryland. Master’s thesis. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Todd M. Schneider
T. Schneider, December 11, 2018
T. Schneider, photo added December 11, 2018