Ridgway's rail

Picture a slim, tawny chicken, but with the bill and legs of a sandpiper and a singular voice to match its eccentric appearance.

[Ridgway's Rail call] Once abundant around San Francisco Bay, the Ridgway's Rail, formerly known as the California Clapper Rail, is today endangered.

In the nineteenth century, unregulated hunting plundered the species.

In the twentieth century, rampant development reduced salt marsh habitat by eighty-five percent.