Rallus longirostris obsoletus

The California Clapper Rail is a chicken sized bird that rarely flies. It is found principally in California's San Francisco Bay, and also in Monterey Bay and Morro Bay.

Clapper rails are secretive and difficult to observe in dense vegetation but they can be often be seen when they are crossing a tidal channel. These pictures were taken from the boardwalk behind the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center in the Baylands Nature Preserve at Palo Alto.