Date: 6/11/25 1:54 pm From: Dana Ripper <dana.ripper...> Subject: No sighting - Webinar on King Rails next Monday!
Hello MO Birders,
Please join us for a presentation entitled King Rail Distribution and Wetland Management Associations of Breeding Secretive Marsh Birds in Missouri, presented by Ryan McGinty of MDC.
About our speaker: Ryan McGinty recently signed on as the Wetland Community Ecologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation. In January of 2025 he completed his M.S. degree at SUNY Brockport studying management associations of breeding secretive marsh birds in Missouri. Prior to this, he completed his bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology at Pittsburg State university.
Talk description: King Rail have experienced range wide population declines and their historic range has contracted. Migratory King Rail have been particularly influenced by these population declines leading King Rail to be listed as a state endangered species in 12 U.S. states including Missouri. The last focused survey effort for King Rail in Missouri was conducted in 2014, and the status and distribution of King Rail in the state is not well known. The objective of my study was to determine the current distribution of King Rail in Missouri. I used two survey methodologies, call broadcast surveys in 2023 and autonomous recording units in 2024, to detect King Rail at publicly managed wetlands throughout Missouri. I surveyed 14 wetland properties in 2023 and 12 properties in 2024. Across survey years, King Rail were detected at only 4 properties: B.K. Leach Conservation Area, Grand Pass Conservation Area, Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge, and Ted Shanks Conservation Area. Due to the few and geographically distant detections, our results support past research that King Rail occupy scattered distributions at low densities throughout the state and potentially more broadly across the Midwest.
Regards,
Dana
Dana Ripper
Co-Director
mrbo.org
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