Having just returned from a trip to England (let me know if you want to see
my trip report -- 66 life birds, 86 total), I missed all of the excitement
about the black rail last week. Undaunted, Jason Waanders, Philip Kline, and
I joined my wife and 4-year-old daughter for a picnic dinner stakeout on the
boardwalk. We arrived a few minutes after 7. We heard a few faint
vocalizations at 7:20. Then the rascal called almost continuously from 7:45
til 8. Two more brief series at about 8:10 and 8:20, then nothing until we
left at about 8:45. No doubt the best bird on my daughter's life list . . .
.
We also got a glimpse of a flyover night-heron (presumably yellow-crowned),
and 1or 2 distant martins.
If everyone chips in to send me back to England, maybe a yellow rail will
show up too (or better yet a female black rail -- I'd being willing to trade
our departed king rails for a breeding colony of black rails . . . )
Ben Jesup
Alexandria, VA
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