Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1953 Ecology of the Virginia and king rails and the sora in Clay County, Iowa Ward Dean Tanner Iowa State College Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, and the Environmental Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Tanner, Ward Dean, "Ecology of the Virginia and king rails and the sora in Clay County, Iowa " (1953). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 13581. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/13581 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0000 NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. UMI p ECOLOQI OF THB VIROim AND KINQ RAllS AND TBB SORA IN CIAZ COUIRT, lOITA by Ward Dean Tanner A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faottlty In Partial Fulfillment of The Requlrenisnts for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHIIOSOPHr Major Subject! Iflldllfe Uanagement Signature was redacted for privacy. lli^or feA Signature was redacted for privacy. of Major l^^Eart^nt Signature was redacted for privacy. loMS State College 1953 UMI Number: DPI2269 UMI ® UMI Microform DP12269 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 11 TABIE OF CONTEOTS INTRODUCTION 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE U UESCRIPTIOIO OF THE SKCIES 5 SyBtematio Position 5 Venmoular Names $ Virginia rail 6 King rail 6 Sora 6 Oeneral Characteristics 6 Flumages and Molts 7 Virginia rail 7 King rail 8 Soz« 8 Ueasurements and Weights of Adults 9 Egg Characteristics 10 Virginia rail U King rail ........ 13 Sora 13 Distribution l5 Virginia rail l5 King rail 19 Sora IS Uigration 19 Vir^nia rail 20 King rail 20 Sora 2$ THE RESEARCH AREA 29 Location 29 Geology 29 Soil 32 Ti clL Hi Climate 32 Marshes 33 Vegetation 3$ Influences of Man * 36 TECHNIQUES AND METHODS OF STUTO 37 EGOLOOT OF THE VIROim RAIL Wi Spring Migration and Prenestlng Period llU Arxlval and behavior ItU Courtship and mating ..... U9 Nesting Season 00 Nesting habits $0 Nesting territory 52 Nesting associates 52 Length of nesting season 53 Nest construction $$ Nest location 62 Hate of egg-laying 65 Size of clutch 65 Incubation ^ Hatching 67 Fate of nests and eggs 67 Egg parasitism 69 Benesting 70 Nesting density 71 Breeding population 79 traduction of young 79 Postnesting Season . 79 Development of the young birds * 79 Mobility 83 Molt 85 Fall Migration 86 Behavior 86 Voice 89 Diseases 89 Fredation 89 Accidents 90 Food 90 IT ECOLOOT OF THE KINO RAIL 92 Spring Migration and Prenesting Season 92 Arrival and behavior 92 Courtship and mating 92 Nesting Season 93 Nesting habits 93 Nesting territory . 93 Length of the nesting season 9h&9$ Nest construction 9h&9$ Vest location 99 Egg-laying 100 Clutch size 100 Incubation 101 Hatching 102 Fate of nests and eggs 102 Egg parasitism 102 Eenesting 102 Nesting density 103 Breeding population 103 Production of ycmig 103 Postnesting Season 103 Development of the young 103 Uobility . lOu Molt lOlt Fall ItLgration lOl^ Behavior lOli Voice 10$ Diseases 1(^ nidation 106 Food 106 ECOLOGI OF THE SORA 108 Spring Mgration and Prenesting Period 108 Arrival and behavior 108 Courtship and mating 110 Nesting Season 110 Nesting habits ..... HO Nesting terirltory . 111 Length of nesting season 112 V Nest oonstruotion US NBst location U8 Rate of egg-laying 119 Clutch-size 119 Incubation 120 Hatching 122 Fate of nests and egns . 122 ESii parasitism 123 Renesting 123 Nesting density 12U Breeding population 12lt Production of young ..... 12$ Postnesting Season 125 Development of the young birds 125 Mobility 128 Molt 130 Fall migration 130 Behavior . 131b Voice . 131b Disease 132 Fredation 132 Accidents 133 Food 133 SUmKX 13lt LUERATUHE CUED ISO ADKmHlEDCUEma 15U r i I 1 IKTRODUCTION The rails (Subfamily Rallinae, A.O.U. Check-list, 1931) have a long history as members of our avian fauna. Some foims, now extinct, iiere present as early as the Eocene epoch, and at least tiro of oxir modem species, the Virginia rail, Rallus liMcola limicola Vieillot, and the king rail, Rallus elegana elepans Audubon, inhabited North America during the Pleistocene (A.C.U. Check-list, 1931)• At the present day, six species of rails occur on this continent* Four of them, including the clapper rail, Rallus longirostris, of our coastal salt marshes, the sora, Porzana Carolina (Linnaeus), the Vlrginlm rail and the king rail, are ingjortant as game birds. Although little known in raost sections of the country, rails are enthusiastically hunted by a limited mmiber of sportsmen in the states bordering the Atlantic Ocean and the CSulf of Mexico where the birds gather in lar.?^ numbers during migration. In the coastal marsiies and along tidal estuaries, rails are shot easily when flood tide forces them frcan cover. The sora and the Virginia rail suffer their greatest hunting losses in the Middle Atlantic states of Connecticut, Hew Jersey, Dela­ ware and Maryland, irtiile the king rail and the clapper rail are subjected to the heaviest hunting pressure on their wintering grounds in the coastal marshes of the South Atlantic and Gulf states (Stone, 1937J Dexmead, 1938; U. S. Fish and Wildlife Sez^ce, 19149). There seons to be very little known about the numerical status, either past or present, of the Virginia rail and the king rail. The 2 8ora, foimerly the most numerous of the rails, has declined maikedly in abundance siice the latter part of the nineteenth century when market hunters and irresponsible gunners slaughtered thousands of the birds each fall. Cooke (19llj) reported one instance in which on a 500-acre marsh in Virninia, hunters killed 3>0(X) soras in a single day. The sora already had decreased alaxmincly by 19lU when Cooke (19114) recom­ mended drastic curtailnvent of bag limits. At that time regulation of rail hunting was the prerogative of the individual states. Four years later, with the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act with Canada, reiils and nearly all other migratory birds came within the protection of Federal law administered by the United States Bureau of Biological Siirvey, now the Fish and Vdldlife Service. The Mexican Migratory Bird Treaty Act, passed in 1937, gave further protection to birds idiich migrate into Mexico (Gebrielson, 19U3). In a sound management pregram for any game animal it is essential to determine the relative abundance of the species, the factors limiting its population and the sections of the breeding range supplying the greatest number of individuals to the hiuiter's bag. Such information, largely, has been lacking for the Virginia rail, the king rail and the sora. The present investigation had three major objectives; (1) to deter­ mine the species of rails in Clay County, lowaj (2) to deteimine their populations; and (3) to leam something of their local auid migratory movements by means of a trapping aixi banding pre gram. The study was conducted during the ^ring, suinmer and fall of 19^1 and 1952 on the 3 Demyts Pasture Public Shooting Qrouxid of the Iowa State Conservation Commisaion* This U02->acre tract of prairie in Clay County^ northirest Iowa, included a rroup of small, shallovr marshes which were deemed rather typical of rail habitat existing in the prairie region of the Upper Midwest. m this investigation, scientific nomenclature of flowering plants follows Femald (1950), irtiile other scientific botanical nomenclature, OS well as colloquial names, follow Hayden (19U3)* Avian nonenclature is that authorized by tJie American Umithologisto» Union (1931)» while mammalian nomenclature is that of Scott (1937)* h HKVUat OF LITERATDHE Although ths 8ora first ims doscrlbod as early as 17^8 by LLnnaeusi the Virginia rail in 1619 by Vieillot and the king rail in I83U by Audubon (A»O.U. Check-list, 1931)> a survey of the literature concerning these species revealed that oiir knowledge of their ecology and life histories is, as yet,very meager. Bent (1926) in his monumental volume. Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds, suranariaed the observations of earlier naturalists, includirif; those of Audubon (IBUO), Hatch (1892)> Bowles (1893), Brewster (1902), Cahn (1910), Burtch (1917), Saujiders (I9I8) and Townsend (1920) on various aspects of the life history of the Virginia rail? Audubon (I8ii0), Ooss (1891), Murchison (1895), Dawson (1903) and Wayne (1910) on the Iiabits of the king rail} and Haynard (1696), Brewster (1902), Sim (1911) and Forbush (19lU) on the life history of the sora.