Virginia Rail
Because of its tendency to skulk among the vegetation, these next 3 shots are typically what I end up with when trying to photograph these elusive birds.
Sometimes, though rarely, one gets a few better views of these beautiful birds.
They can actually swim under water, propelling themselves with their wings. They swim in this way probably only to flee predators.
Winter visitors to Florida
The Virginia Rail as well as the other rail species have the highest ratio of leg muscles to flight muscles of any birds.
We were actually able to watch the female settle down into her very well-camouflaged nest.
You can just barely make out her dark body in the cup-like nest in the center of the photo.
The forehead feathers of these rails are adapted to withstand wear from pushing through dense marsh vegetation.
Whoops!
No comments:
Post a Comment