A tiny, secretive bird is disappearing in NC. Why you should care | Opinion

If a shy, mouse-sized bird disappears from North Carolina’s marshes, will anyone notice? Will anyone care? Well, we should all be paying attention.

The Black Rail is among our state’s most threatened birds. Populations have declined 90% in the last three decades.

They are also one of our most strange and secretive animals. Black Rails are tiny, red-eyed birds that live out their lives skirting through tunnels in dense marsh, preferring to run and stay hidden rather than fly. For avid birdwatchers, just hearing one would be a lifetime highlight.

Because of their secretive nature, the scientific record on Black Rails is sparse. To learn more, researchers have combed through old academic papers and trudged through coastal marshes for surveys. What we do know about this bird makes them an emblem of larger forces impacting our coast and wetlands in general.

A century or more ago, they could be found in low densities across North Carolina in small freshwater wetlands. As those wetlands were drained and developed in the post-Civil War era, the species has been largely confined to coastal regions.

Specifically, Black Rails prefer habitat where marsh meets land. This provides shallow water for foraging and dry areas to raise their cotton ball-shaped chicks. The problem is that North Carolina’s once vast coastal marshland is shrinking, due in large part to erosion and rising seas.

Marshes have the capability to naturally creep upland as salt water encroaches, a phenomenon known as “marsh migration.” But this only works if there are new places for marsh to grow. As development moves in and shorelines are hardened against erosion, these places are disappearing.

The end result is marsh that is drowning on one side and boxed in on the other. Black Rails are on the frontlines of what this loss means for wildlife, with an estimated 40 breeding pairs remaining in North Carolina.

A new plan from NC Wildlife Resource Commission rightly puts the focus on this imperiled species, calling for targeted habitat management and partnerships with private landowners. This is a positive step, considering there has been limited conservation action for Black Rails.

As a lifelong lover of North Carolina’s birds, the thought of losing even a single species is an unspeakable tragedy. I also understand that many folks probably never heard of a Black Rail until reading this article. To you, I would say that the bird is a canary in the coal mine.

It’s near-extinction here tells us something about the state of our marshes, which are important for birds and much more. Marshes are nurseries for fish and all kinds of wildlife and are vital for fisheries industries and recreation.

They also act as natural infrastructure, filtering water and protecting communities from flooding and erosion, which has only become more important as the severity of storms increases. And that’s to say nothing of the wild and remote quality of North Carolina’s marshes, and the sense of peace and connection many of us feel when we spend time in or near them.

At Audubon, we are doing what we can to protect and restore this habitat, alongside partners like the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, a network of groups working to save the Black Rail from the Chesapeake Bay to Florida.

At our Pine Island Sanctuary on Currituck Sound, where Black Rails haven’t been detected in years, we are piloting marsh restoration techniques and repurposing old impoundments to create Rail habitat. The state’s plan envisions projects like these across the coast.

Elsewhere on the Atlantic Coast, partners are identifying places for future marsh migration and testing restoration techniques. At home, coastal landowners can help by leaving a buffer for marsh to move upland and by supporting local development regulations that similarly protect these migration corridors. And everyone can help by speaking up to support robust wetlands protections in Congress and the NC General Assembly.

It will take all of this and more to save the Black Rail. But it’s worth it. By doing so, we’ll be ensuring a better future for birds and everyone who loves and lives on North Carolina’s coast.

Curtis Smalling is the executive director at Audubon North Carolina.

This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM.