This morning I had a couple hours off work, so I headed over to Killbuck
Marsh Wildlife area.
At the end of Force rd where the Eagle nest is, I walked back the trail to
where it turns north.
The water is low here and I heard a bird squeaking in the cattails.After
waiting several moments
a Virginia Rail walked out on the mud right into the open. What a veiw! The
bird seemed like a adult
the bill was orange. Also the bird was peeping in a manner I have never knew
a rail could. Then a
second bird was heard off to the left. I looked over and there was a second
rail just at the edge
of the cattails. This one seemed smaller and didn't have as much orange on
the bill.
But what caught my eye was a small black bird behind the rail! The rail came
out of the reeds and
began probing the mud like a dowitcher would. There was a small gap between
the cattails maybe 3 ft
or so and suddenly a very small black chick ran across this gap. Then I
noticed several more chicks
among the reeds, they were just black fluff balls on fairly long legs. They
had short yellow bills with
a black ring around the middle. When a chick decided to cross that gap it
could really move!
All together I saw 4 chicks plus the two adult birds,I was pretty excided!
But really how many Rails
are there at Killbuck? If every pair has 4 chicks, may I guess that in a few
weeks rails will be common there!

Willis Brubaker

Wooster Ohio

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