YUMA CLAPPER RAIL 



Rallus longirostris yumanensis Dickey (1923) 



KINGDOM Animalia 



CLASS Aves 



ORDER Gruiformes 



FAMILY Rallidae 



OTHER COMMON NAMES None 



DATE 



Entered into SWIS to be determined 



Update to be determined 



LEGAL STATUS 



Federal: Endangered (32 FR 4001, 11 Mar 

 1967). Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 

 3 July 1918 (40 Stat. 755; 16 U.S.C. 

 703-711) as amended 3 December 

 1969. Public Law 91-135. 



State: California: Rare 



Arizona: Protected 



REASONS FOR CURRENT STATUS 



Grinnell (1914) did not report any clapper 

 rails and noted that marshes were few and small 

 in size during his 3-month vertebrate survey along 

 the Lower Colorado River from 15 February to 

 15 May 1910, suggesting a considerable increase 

 in both habitat and rails as a result of damming 

 of river since then (Ohmart and Smith 1973). 

 Since clappers normally do not return to the 

 Colorado River habitat until about April 22-25, it 

 would have been easy for Grinnell to miss the 

 influx of birds. 



Reclamation projects along the Colorado 

 River have both created and destroyed marsh 

 habitat. Dam construction may have generally 

 increased habitat by creating marshes. Therefore, 

 birds may now be at the northernmost point of 

 their historic range. 



Channelization has eliminated large areas of 

 habitat near Yuma since 1963 (Tomlinson and 

 Todd 1973). 



