I spent a productive morning at Anahuac NWR yesterday. I found my target
Seaside Sparrows (~6), and 3 or 4 calling Black Rails. The birds were at Frozen
Point, in the salt marsh. I had found singing Seaside Sparrows at this same
site two years ago, in May. I did not see King Rails or Purple Gallinules, my
other targets, on this visit. I had a crisp male Orchard Oriole on the road out
of the marsh. Common Nighthawks and Marsh Wrens were plentiful.
The Black Rails had two different calls, something I had noticed also in the
rail population at Galveston Island State Park when I first heard them calling
in late February. Some of the Anahuac birds called the expected three-note
ki-ki doo, ki-ki doo. But others called a four-note variation--ki ki-ki doo, ki
ki-ki doo. There was a slight pause between the first and second notes, which
made it distinctive.
Bob Becker, Galveston
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