Hi Henry,
There's also an excellent training CD developed by Dr. Courtenay Conway's
research team for marsh bird ID. It was developed for the training course
on the national marsh bird survey protocol in March 2006 in Arizona... and
it included lots of samples of different vocalizations. I'm sure he'd
gladly send you a copy.
Let me know off-line if you want to pursue this and I'll forward his email.
Sandy C. Spencer
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Eastern Virginia Rivers National Wildlife Refuge Complex
(Rappahannock River Valley, James River,
Presquile Island, and Plum Tree Island NWRs)
P.O. Box 1030
Warsaw, VA 22572
804/333-1470
804/333-3396 (fax)
Sandy_Spencer@xxxxxxx
Henry Armistead
<74077.3176@compu
serve.com> To
Sent by: Virginia Birders
va-bird-bounce@fr <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
eelists.org cc
Subject
01/30/2007 12:12 [va-bird] King vs. Clapper Rail
PM vocalizations
Please respond to
74077.3176
@compuserve.com
Thanks to Nate Dias of the Cape Romain Bird Observatory, McClellanville,
SC, for this commentary in response to the recent r.f.i. on King Rails at
Blackwater N.W.R., MD. Let the dialog continue! - Harry Armistead.
Hi, Harry, Nate Dias here.
My opinion is that using habitat to ID King versus Clapper rails is a
mistake. In coastal SC, I have seen pure King Rails in pure salt
(spartina alterniflora) marshes and pure clapper rails in vegetation in a
freshwater waterfowl impoundment (which is next to a salt marsh).
Please forward the following note to VA-birds and to Sean Flint.
Thanks and happy naturalizing,
Nate Dias
--------------------------------------------------------------
Separating King Versus Clapper Rails by voice is not hard - the
"Charleston School of Birding" has been doing it and teaching it for years.
Even hybrids can be called with a fair degree of certainty. As with all
bird calls, the closer you are to the calling bird, the easier the ID.
King Rails - noticeably deeper, lower tone, markedly slower sequence of
call notes, more grinding individual "grunt" notes (more of a "rrrek"
versus the more monosyllabic, crisp "kek" notes of a Clapper Rail).
Clapper Rail - higher pitch, MUCH more rapid sequence, a sort of
hyperactive, "goony" sequence of call notes. Individual notes are
quick, crisp "kek" sounds, without the more drawn-out raspy undertones of a
King Rail.
Hybrids can have a cadence like Clapper (faster and slightly "hyper") but a
pitch that's lower and call notes that are not quite as crisp as a classic
Clapper.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
---
Nathan Wescoat Dias
Executive Director
Cape Romain Bird Observatory
PO Box 362
McClellanville, SC 29458
http://www.crbo.net/
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