The Pickaway Plains Black Rail was present again this morning.  I arrived at
Charlie's Pond about 0730 and found Suzanne Wagner, Jerry Talkington, and
Ray Hannikman already on station.  They had been there since dawn and had
actually seen the bird.
I joined them during a lull in the action and after about fifteen minutes,
they took off to check out the airport area for possible Blue Grosbeaks.
 Shortly after they left, I heard a single vocalization on the east side of
the slough.  (This is on the south side of the road.  The water level on the
north side was very high owing to last night's severe storms; too high to
leave any appreciable habitat.)  This call was the tenor "kick me rearrrrr"
included on most of the tapes, but it was uttered only once, which was
something of a disappointment.

Not to worry.  At 0815, a bird started up on the west side of the slough.
 This call was a much more emphatic "kewpie DOLL," given in a more baritone
register.  This bird sang repeatedly for 30 minutes, including seven minutes
of continuous vocalization.  During this 30 minute period, there was one
instance of two calls within perhaps two seconds, but separated by about 20
yards.  Toward the end of this period, Aaron Boone arrived and he heard a
similar combination of two calls at a short interval, but well separated
spatially.

Pete and Lucy Whan rolled up about 0845 and brought a fierce storm with
them.  We all scattered for our vehicles.  I waited in the car for about 30
minutes.  It was raining so hard that driving was really out of the
question.  By the time it began to slack off, I was out of time and was
obliged to leave.

On checking with Birds of North America, I find that both of the
vocalizations I noted are well within the variation reported for male song.
 The female apparently does not often vocalize except when agitated.  None
of the descriptions of female vocalizations matched either of the songs I
heard.  My personal opinion is that there are very likely two birds present,
with a non-negligible probability of three birds.

Peterjohn states that Black Rail has occurred all over Ohio (albeit rarely)
except in the unglaciated region of the southeast.  Inasmuch as a pattern
can be said to exist, this (these?) birds are late.  Birds of North America
cites a "definite" nesting record for Ohio, which is included in a large,
amorphous area of local breeders extending from the central Great Plains up
to the western basin of Lake Erie.  This area is disjoint from the main
breeding range along the south Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico.  Given
the furtiveness of this species, one must wonder how confident we can be
about its breeding range.

I personally have only one other record of Black Rail, March 1966 at Orton
Plantation on the Cape Fear River south of Wilmington, NC.  I had frankly
given up hope of ever encountering another, so this was a very great
pleasure.

Cheers,

Bob

--
Robert D Powell
Wilmington, OH, USA
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http://rdp1710.wordpress.com

Nulla dies sine linea

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