A Window into the Breeding Ecology and Molt of the Eastern Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis)

Abstract

Knowledge of the ecology and behavior of the Eastern Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis jamaicensis) has remained nearly as elusive as the rail itself. Camera trapping methods facilitated the first study of breeding phenology and chick development (n = 33 broods), flightless molt phenology and duration (n = 10 adults in molt), and courtship and brood rearing behaviors. In addition, behavioral observations combined with phenology data provided evidence of pairs raising two or more broods during a breeding season. Conservation and management efforts for the Eastern Black Rail should take into consideration periods of vulnerability such as incubation, brood rearing and flightless molt, which coincide with increasingly severe and frequent coastal flooding events and hurricanes. To effectively develop conservation strategies to ensure the persistence of the Eastern Black Rail, it is necessary to understand factors key to the fecundity and survival of the subspecies.