After attending graduation ceremonies for a friend at Hocking College
yesterday, I headed to Charlie's Pond to see/hear the Black Rail(s).
I got there around 4:45 p.m. to find Dave English, a Cleveland birder
with the same plan.  Three hours of silence followed in the 90 degree
plus heat and humidity.  Lauren and Kathy from Cincinnati stopped on
their way back from a weekend in Grayling, MI and the Oak Openings.
Lauren had heard the rail last Tuesday during the tornado warnngs.
Finally, amid the din of the owner's tractor, the wind and blackbird/
swallow vociferations, we heard one weak call from (one of) the rail
(s) that Lauren confirmed was what she had heard previously.  Hoping
the lowering sun and temperatures would spark some more calling, Dave
and I waited until after 9 p.m. trying to hear over the still
operating (with headlights on) tractor working the field to the north
and east of the swale, but to no avail.

Jim Glover
Northwest Columbus
www.jimgloverart.com


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