Many people know about endangered species found in Africa, Asia, and South America, but very few know that there are endangered species found in their local ecosystems. I had the opportunity to help survey the wild population of the light-footed clapper rail at the Tijuana Estuary. The light-footed clapper rail is an endangered bird found along the coast of Southern California and northern Baja California.

The tide is turning, for the good, for a small coastal wetlands bird called the light-footed clapper rail. Once common in the early 1900s, this species diminished drastically due to loss of habitat. The clapper rail is now considered critically endangered, but thanks to a group called Team Clapper Rail, all that is changing.