While the Ibis circled before it landed I could see its while lower back and rump. But after it landed, It appeared to me to be all. dark in the early morning light. Indeed I thought I must have been mistaken and would have put it down as a much more likely White-faced, if it were not for the pictures.
Which brings me to the bird in question. I was just about finished i with my close to five hour walk. I reached the last east/west fencing which separates the chicken farm from the preserve. My car was in sight. I looked at just following the fence line to my car, but decided against it. I instead followed the path through the grass. Just before the path made the turn to the east paralleling the fencing a small bird flushed. I noted its back part of its wings were striped with black. The stripes ran parallel ro the axis of the body. The bird flushed directly in front of me. and so close I could see that detail with the naked eye. My first very brief thought was just a female Red-winged, but then I thought, “ that’s a rail!!”
I got glasses on it just before it dropped into the grass. The bird’s flight seemed very slow, the wing beats were not abnormally slow but the progress seemed to be, The birds shape was a bit quail like, but the wing loading was not. The bird flew steadily on normal wingbeats.
It did not dangle its legs. I did not notice white in the secondaries. I think I saw enough of the bird that I should have. I don’t know if other rails ever use grassland habitats.
I look at pictures of rails and see Yellow as the only one which would present such a back pattern, but again I should have seen the white secondaries and did not.
When the bird dropped back into the grass it lowered its legs which were of the expected length for a rail.
I did not notice legs sticking out behind the bird in flight. Looks like I should have seen at least part of a foot.
I was hot from the walk and did not want to harass the bird by crashing through the grass looking for it.
