This is a bird note.

As the February moon rises over a Louisiana marsh,

a peculiar sound breaks the nocturnal silence.

It's the call of a black rail,

a bird whose voice seems pulled straight

from a cartoon soundtrack.

Black rails are one of a half dozen North American rails.

A group of marsh inhabiting birds more often heard than seen. Just six inches tall, the black rail is a puff

ball, the shape of a barnyard chick. For bird watchers, seeing a black rail is akin

to seizing the Holy Grail.

Black rails are not only tiny and dark, but they are secretive and most active at night.

Many black rails nest in marshes along the Atlantic seaboard and in the Midwest, but in

winter they concentrate in the coastal marshes of East Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, areas that face many threats.

U.S. populations of black rails have declined greatly.

In recent decades, the enactment of laws protecting wetlands has improved the bird's prospects.

Those who support conservation of wetlands help assure that this shy bird's comical voice will be heard for many years to come.

For Bird Note, I'm Mary McCann.