They are one of the most challenging and funny birds to photograph! The Clapper Rail is a marsh inhabitant the size of a chicken. They can hide in nothing and have a call that carries for miles. When I first started working for them decades ago, the biologist I was working with taught me much, no more than our first time out to observe the Clapper. There I stood, looking around for a half hour, looking for one to photograph. I searched and searched, and that’s when Dick said, “Look under your feet!” We were standing on a small rise, and literally below our feet stood a clapper!

Dupont Point in Delaware is a large, extensive marsh. This marsh has a number of Clapper Rails, it’s where this photograph was taken. One doesn’t have to walk into the marsh, just haunt the tidal creek, keep your ears and eyes open, and they will appear! The best time is at high tide. Moving little is the best strategy, which means, long glass will be your best friend. Spend some time there, and you will have some laughs as you spend time with the secretive clapper.

As the sun hits the Delaware shore, the high tide is on its way out. Horseshoe Crabs scurry about to take advantage of the high waters to lay their eggs. Egg density historically was 40,000+ per square meter. Today, there is less than 5000 per square meter. This rocket fuel is so important to shroebirds migrating north in the spring, like the Rudder Turnstone. The edge of the bay where it’s foraging suffers from erosion, so man has interceded with a broad cloth to hold in the soil back. This has created a trap for the small egg of the Horseshoe Crab that the Turnstone searches for a meal. They are literally for those eggs, in search of gold.