The species will use amazingly small and isolated pieces of habitat. I have
encountered wintering birds in wetlands no bigger than a living room, a few
hundred square feet. Lars
On Mon, Mar 7, 2016 at 11:10 PM, Robert O'Brien <baro@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I have a 1-2 acre swamp on my place near Carver OR and Virginia Rails
both winter and nest there. You almost never year them & surely never see
them,
although their black little chicks were much in evidence one spring/summer.
But playing a tape can usually lure them into responding.
I've been to Westmoreland many times, but never played a tape and neither
saw nor heard them.
Bob OBrien
On Mon, Mar 7, 2016 at 9:10 PM, Jeff <jeff17_marks@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Saturday afternoon, 5 March, I was surprised to hear a Virginia Rail
giving the *kidick kidick *call from the emergent irises and cattails at
the very south end of the foot path, where it curves back around toward the
entrance (a fairly new beaver dam is < 25 m east of the spot, and the green
from a par 3 hole is across the water less than 50 m away, a little wedge
punch shot). I got out my phone and did a quick playback, and the bird
answered, as did another nearby, which gave some grunts. Then they duetted.
A mated pair, I suspect.
Don't know if this is unusual, but it's a first for me in 9 years of
visiting the place. Granted, I've never played any rail calls there before.
If anyone has a comment on the presence of rails there I'd love to hear
about it.
Jeff Marks
SE PDX
