Hello!

Sorry for the belated post, but yesterday afternoon I drove down to
Charlie's Pond (south of Circleville) after I saw Paul Gardner's post about the  Black
Rail.  I arrived just before 3:30 PM, parked my vehicle on the north  side of
Radcliffe Rd., got out of my car and walked back along the road, and  within
seconds by pure dumb luck I was in a stare down with a Black Rail about  15
feet away on the south side of the road!  It was in a small  clearing in a
gravelly area next to the grass line adjacent to a small  drainage pipe that runs
underneath Radcliffe Road.  We stared at each other  for about 4-5 seconds and
after I whispered "Oh my God" and picked my jaw up off  the ground, I went to
raise my binoculars at which point it turned around and  went back into the
vegetation.  During those few seconds, I had a "full  body view" and could
clearly see it's red eyes. I heard one consistently calling  for the next 20
minutes and then sporadically over the next 40 minutes  before I left.  As indicated
in other posts, I'm fairly confident that I  heard two calling as at times I
would hear calls within seconds from areas about  40-50 feet apart.  I never
did (or probably never will again) see one after  my initial view and
unfortunately did not have my camera with me (it was in the  car) to document the
visual observation.  Many thanks to Troy, Paul, and  others for reporting this gem
of a find yesterday!

Rob Lowry
Powell, Ohio




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