So far in my birding, I have filmed three Virginia rails (Rallus limicola). The first was on September 9, 2016, in the Ramble, in Central Park, near Swampy Pin Oak, and then down near the Lake where the gill flows into the main lake. I didn't spend a lot of time with that one, but got one video and a few photos.
The second Virginia rail was seen on October 2, 2019, in Abingdon Square Park, a small pocket park in the West Village of Manhattan. The bird was digging for worms and seemed to be very successful at finding food.
The third was in the Central Park Loch on May 7, 2023. You can see this bird first!
The Audubon site has some good information about this midsize rail, which feeds in the mud on insects and aquatic invertebrates.
A Virginia Rail in the Loch
In early May 2023, a Virginia rail visited the Loch in the North Woods of Central Park. After a day in which the bird hid because he had been flushed by an off-leash dog, the rail began to come out of hiding more often. By the time I saw the Virginia rail on May 7, he was quite willing to prance and dance and take a bath while the cameras clicked. Virginia rails are freshwater marsh birds, and they peck around to find their diet of aquatic invertebrates.
Abingdon Square Park for the Worms!
Virginia rail, Abingdon Square Park, October 2, 2019
Virginia rail, October 2, 2019
There are two videos. I set the October 2, 2019, video to Irish folk tunes, so that Virginia rail could do a Virginia reel.
This grouping of photos was taken on October 2, 2019, in Abingdon Square Park.
Hanging Out in the Ramble
This group of photos was taken September 9, 2016.
Virginia rail, Central Park, September 9, 2016
