Ridgway's Rail, Rallus obsoletus
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![]() Ridgway's Rail is an endangered and increasingly scarce species, seen around San Francisco Bay, where all the birds on this page were photographed: above, Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland; below, Palo Alto Baylands -- two of the best places to see Ridgway's, which was recently recognized as a separate species from the Clapper Rail of the East and Gulf Coasts.The somewhat similar Virginia Rail, also present in the SF Bay Area, is distinguished from the Ridgway's by its much smaller size, and also by its brighter colors and dark gray cheek. | |
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![]() The white on the underparts and the mostly gray head and breast feathers, with a few orange feathers growing in, mark the bird above as in its first cycle, transitioning out of juvenal plumage. |
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![]() Above and below, pictures of the same adult bird; note the conspicuous orange in the cheeks. | |
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