Чёрная пастушка (Laterallus jamaicensis): описание и угрозы исчезновения

Species of bird

The black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis) is a mouse sized member of the rail family Rallidae that occurs in both North and South America.

The black rail is a small black bird with a short bill. Black rails usually weigh 29 39 g, are 10 15 cm in length, and have a wingspan of 8.7 11.0 in (22 28 cm). The body is dark, with white speckles along the back and wings. Both the beak and legs are dark. Adults have a red eye that appears around 3 months of age. The peak of vocalization is during the first two weeks of May, when breeding and courtship behaviors are also at their peak. The South American subspecies have a quite different voice. It is extinct or threatened in many locations due to habitat loss. The largest populations in North America are in Florida and California.

The black rail is rarely seen and prefers running in the cover of the dense marsh vegetation to flying.

This rail is territorial during the breeding season, and occasionally males will mate with two or more females.

The black rail is an opportunistic feeder and consumes a wide range of food. Its diet includes seeds, insects, crustaceans and mollusks. The black rail forages by feeding along the water lines after high and low tide. The wetland habitat that the black rail depends on has steadily declined through the last several decades, due to draining for development and conversion to agricultural land. In addition to declining populations and increasing threats, the black rail is also impacted by the lack of scientific studies available. Because of the secretive and hard to observe nature of the bird, there is very little known about them to help prevent population decline. They are preyed upon by many avian (hawks, egrets, and herons) and mammalian (foxes and cats) predators, and rely on the cover of thick marsh vegetation for protection. High tides are a dangerous time for black rails, as they are quite vulnerable to predation outside the marsh.