Virginia rail
The Virginia rail probe with its bill in mud or shallow water, also picking up food by sight. It mainly eat insects and other aquatic invertebrates, like beetles, flies, dragonflies, crayfish, snails and earthworms. It can also eat aquatic animals like frogs, fish and some small snakes, as well as seeds. Animal preys constitute the biggest part of this bird's diet, but vegetation contributes to its diet in the fall and winter.
Water rail
Water rails follow definite routes when feeding, frequently returning to good hunting areas. These rails are versatile and opportunist foragers. They will jump to take insects from plants, climb to find berries, or dislodge apples from trees so they can be eaten on the ground. They will kill birds by impaling or drowning them, particularly if the bird's ability to escape is restricted. They have been recorded as killing a European greenfinch and a king quail in an aviary, and small birds trapped in bird ringers' mist nets. One bird killed a twite caught with it in a Heligoland trap. They are also nest predators, particularly of small birds that nest in reeds such as the great reed warbler. Water rails may defend a winter feeding territory, although this is smaller than when breeding, with individuals perhaps less than apart; favoured sites may hold hundreds of birds. Aggressive behaviour outside the breeding season may extend to attacks on other marsh rails such as spotted and Baillon's crake.