The Port of San Diego pledged $180,000 over the next five years to support Chula Vista’s Living Coast Discovery center’s efforts of propagating the endangered bird species, Ridgeway’s Rail.
The endangered light-footed Ridgway’s rail is a gray-and-rusty colored bird about the size of a chicken that lives in the dense vegetation of coastal wetlands primarily in Southern California and Baja California. Ridgeway’s rails are known to nest within the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge and forage in the Chula Vista Wildlife Reserve. Rails have also been observed foraging in other San Diego marsh habitats, such as the F&G Street Marsh in Chula Vista.
In partnership with the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service, Hubbs Sea World, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, the Living Coast has conducted a regional propagating program or captive breeding program to rear Ridgeway rails since 2000.
The program’s goal is to increase the total number of rails in the wild.
“Supporting The Living Coast’s Ridgway’s rail breeding program is just one part of what we do to protect and enrich San Diego Bay’s natural resources,” said Chairman Dan Malcolm, Board of Port Commissioners. “Our vision is to advance a thriving waterfront that is sustainable and prosperous while enhancing the quality of the natural environment for present and future generations.”
Statewide annual surveys began tracking the number of breeding pairs in 1980, and by 1985 the species reached its lowest point when only 142 breeding pairs were found in 14 marshes across the entire state. According to the Port, the species reached a high of 656 breeding pairs in 18 marshes by 2016, in part due to the success of captive breeding programs.
“The continued support from the Port of San Diego has been essential for The Living Coast’s efforts in saving species like the light-footed Ridgway’s rail. We are seeing improvements in the population each year, and in turn, we are learning more and more about the environment we are all working to preserve,” said Aiyana Reissman, Animal Care Manager at The Living Coast Discovery Center.
Funding provided by the Port will support The Living Coast staff training and resources to breed and raise Ridgway’s rail chicks to adulthood; provide medical and nutrition care for adults, chicks, and juveniles; maintain proofing pens to ensure the rails become acclimated to the natural environment prior to release; track juveniles to assess their survival in the wild; maintain artificial nesting platforms for wild birds to use; upgrade and enhance current Ridgway’s rail educational exhibits on display at The Living Coast, and conduct annual Ridgway’s rail surveys in Southern California salt marshes.
