Water Rail - Status

Status

The Water Rail's numbers are declining, but it has a large population of 100,000–1,000,000 adults and a huge breeding range estimated at 15,600,000 km2 (6,000,000 mi2); it is therefore classed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In most European countries, the population is either stable or decreasing slightly due to loss of habitat. The rail's range and numbers are increasing in Morocco, with breeding as far south as Oued Massa. Little is known about the Asian range, but korejewi is a common breeder in Pakistan and Kashmir, and indicus is uncommon in Japan.

Introduced predators are a threat to vulnerable island populations. In addition to the extirpation of the Icelandic race, mink have been responsible for marked declines in the populations of Water Rails and other ground-nesting birds in the Hebrides, where the mainly fish-eating otter was the only native carnivore. The mink derived from fur farms on Lewis, from whence they spread through Harris, North Uist and South Uist. Mink and ferret eradication programmes have enabled the rail to return to islands including Lewis and Harris, and further projects are ongoing or planned on the Scottish mainland. Locally, habitat may be affected by the drainage of marshes, canalisation of water courses and urban encroachment, or by pollution.

Water Rails have been eaten by humans for thousands of years; they were eaten by the Romans, and depicted in wall paintings at Pompeii, and consumption continued through the Middle Ages to modern times. However, because of the bird's habitat and skulking nature, hunting appears not to be a serious threat. In Japan the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry reported that "only about 50,000" were killed annually in the mid-20th century, although this number was thought to include several other species of wetland birds.