[TN-Bird] Standifer Gap Marsh, Virginia Rail Nest

Standifer Gap Marsh, Chattanooga, Hamilton Co., TN, 6/21/04
Least Bittern, Singing, 8:30 AM, near beaver dam

Virginia Rail,  2 adults, nest, 2 newly hatched young and 7 eggs

  As I was wading about 9  AM, an adult Virginia Rail faced me from 5 ft, 
squawking loudly.
  As I moved toward it it kept the same distance.  Soon another adult began 
squawking
  from about 5 feet to one side.  Neither made any attempt to hide.  Backing 
away from
  the direction they seemed to be leading me I soon found the nest, in a clump 
of a few
  cattails and some grass, looking from the side like the expected dead grass 
at the bottom
  of a clump of grass.  The bottom of the nest must have been about an inch 
above the water.

  Later one of the adults was sitting quietly on the nest, hard to see, while 
the other squawked
  and tried to lead me from the nest.  When I got too close, 3 ft, the adult 
left the nest and began
  squawking from about 5 feet.  The nest had 7 eggs; the 2 young crawled over 
the side and hid 
  under the nest.  Two of the eggs each had a hole 2-3 mm diameter; one of the 
nearly-hatched
  was diligently enlarging the hole from the inside, working a few seconds then 
resting a few
  seconds.

  Birders have been seeing downy young since April 21 or so.  Tennis-ball 
sized, they had to be
  at least 2-3 days older than today's newly hatched ping-pong ball-sized.  So 
the nesting
  season lasts more than 2 months; this could even be a second nest.  

Willow Flycatcher,  no one home,  4 eggs,  both adults soon returned and one 
began incubating.
One adult, hunting about 200 ft from the nest, changed perches about every 30 - 
60 seconds.

Humans, this adult male, 3 adult females, 4 after-hatching-year males, all with 
binoculars.
Anyone seeing young birders at the marsh would be advised to get acquainted; 
some (all) of them
are very good observers.

David Patterson

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