Clapper Rail Bird Chesapeake Bay New Point Comfort Virginia

New Point Comfort Lighthouse

The clapper rail is sometimes called the "marsh hen" of the salt marsh. It uses its strong legs, and long bill to catch fiddler crabs, snails, and insects along the shoreline and among the marsh cordgrass.

Clapper Rails are primarily a summer resident of the marsh, although some may arrive in the spring and stay until the fall.