Despite its short wings, the Zapata rail may not be completely flightless. On morphological grounds it would be classed as a flightless species, since the pectoral girdle and wing are as reduced as in other species of rails that are considered to be flightless, but Bond reported that he saw one flutter about ten feet across a canal.
The Zapata rail's short wings do not preclude the possibility that it may be capable of limited flight. While morphological analysis suggests it shares characteristics with other flightless rails, Bond's observation of one flapping its wings for a short distance contradicts this classification.