King Rail

King rails carry their name honestly — the largest rail in the United States, a chicken-sized marsh bird in rich rufous-brown, with sharply barred black-and-white flanks and a long bill that curves slightly downward. They favor freshwater and brackish marshes, rice fields, and swamps across the eastern half of the continent, and where fresh marsh meets salt, they are close enough kin to the clapper rail to interbreed with it. Like most rails, king rails are secretive and more often heard than seen, working the bill into mud and shallow water to come up with crayfish, insects, and small aquatic animals.