The Yuma clapper rail is one of seven North American subspecies of the clapper rail, a henlike marsh bird. The Yuma subspecies is graybrown with a tawny breast, a white throat and undertail, and bars across its flanks.
Clapper rails feed on crayfish, small fish, clams, isopods, and a variety of insects.
The Yuma clapper cail is a mysterious creature in its breeding and nesting practices. It is thought that the bird lays about six eggs. They construct their various types of nests on dry hammocks or in small shrubs amid dense cattails, just above water level. In the United States, the Yuma clapper rail seeks out nesting sites among tall cattails and bulrushes along the margins of shallow, stable ponds of freshwater marshes. Western clapper rails range from northern California to central Mexico.