Hi Everyone,

I wanted to take a few minutes to send out a more detailed summary of the Yellow Rail night at Rumbly Point (4/24). Stan Arnold wrote a nice report of our Friday afternoon birding, so I'll skip right to the unforgettable evening. I'll just sneak in that the Frazier Neck pond GADWALL (16 birds) were quite kind to linger for the last couple weeks. They were my coveted county closeout (#104). 

The extended Stasz gang has been looking at Yellow Rail records for years and we have occasionally made good on threats of concerted search efforts. This weekend was to be a bachelor party celebration for Hans Holbrook, who will be married in the very, very near future. Our important secondary agenda was finding Yellow Rails. Disreputable birders began arriving at Irish Grove at sunset, prepared to fan out over the lower Eastern Shore marshes and find the most mythical and elusive of regularly occurring Maryland birds. 

There have been fewer than 30 reports of Yellow Rails in Maryland. Among these, there are now 15 accepted records, as well as four old Stuart and Robbins records (1880-1955). Reports are from March to May and August to October. 

The most recent accepted report was from Bystrak, Feild, Mumford, Ross et al on 4/13/2007, also at Rumbly Point Road. Hans Holbrook and I spent the next night in the howling wind and sideways rain, hoping against hope that the wind would settle for a moment and allow for some listening. In the calm of the morning, the bird gods were pleased with our dedication and offered a consolation of two Black Skimmers in Somerset Co. 

Anyway, the gang gathered and socialized at Irish Grove, and soon, in small groups, we started wandering south to the marsh. By the time everyone had arrived, it was me, Jim Stasz, Stan Arnold, Ed Boyd, Jim Brighton, Steve Collins, Tom Feild, Ron Gutberlet, Matt Hafner, Hans Holbrook, John Hubbell, Geraldine King, Mikey Lutmerding, Mike Walsh. 

The first bird was heard by Hans, Tom, and Geraldine at 11:20 p.m. at 0.6 or 0.7 miles from the woods. We could hardly believe it. The excitement levels were high. We waited quietly for about 20 minutes, but it did not call again. Small groups eventually quietly wandered off in both directions.

We didn't have to wait long. At about 11:45 p.m., a second bird was heard at perhaps the 0.9/1.0 mile mark by John Hubbell, Mike Walsh, and me. The entire group hurried over and everyone got to hear it. It would call its 5-note call once or twice and be silent for a couple minutes. We probably heard the series of notes 30-40 times while gathered there at that exact site. The quality and pattern was precisely that of the Eastern Stokes track. Over the course of the full night, the group heard the calls well over 100 times. Only rarely throughout the night was it a persistent tick-tick, tick-tick-tick. Most of the time it did this cycle twice, sometimes just once. 

Walking north to rest before Matt Hafner showed up at 3:00 a.m., two birds were detected. They were sufficiently far from the southern bird to say we had three individuals. This was back near the original location, though, and this is where vocalizations were most regularly heard over the rest of the night. When Matt Hafner arrived, several of us (Stasz, Ron, Matt, and I) had the bird still singing intermittently from 3:15 a.m. until about 4:00 a.m.

As covered very well in Jim Brighton's recent post, there is no need to use playback on Black or Yellow Rails. Over the years many birders have tried using playback on Black Rails and have reported that there was rarely or never a response. Later this evening, we did play some Yellow Rail tape in attempts to lure them closer for audio recording for the MD/DCRC. There was absolutely no response from the birds. When they weren't calling, the tape didn't make them call. When they were calling, they didn't stop and they didn't come closer. Mostly it just meant we couldn't hear the real birds when they were calling!  Half of us that were out all night did hear Black Rail a couple times, but we did not use any Black Rail playback. If you look for Black Rails in Maryland, please invest the time and quietly enjoy the marsh. The experience will be more enjoyable and authentic. 

Other birds at Rumbly Point throughout the night included:

Common Moorhen--1; heard by several (I missed it)
Sora--1; heard by most
Black Rail--1; heard by half of us at different times
Clapper Rail--15+; one calling overhead as it flew over!
Indigo Bunting--1 night migrant
Virginia Rail--5+
Least Sandpiper--1; calling
Dunlin--5; calling often
Marsh Wren--12; singing
Seaside Sparrow--6; singing

With 0-3 hours of sleep per person, several of us decided to strike out before dawn and begin the day at Truitt's Landing in Worcester County. It was me, Jim Brighton, Ron Gutberlet, John Hubbell, Matt Hafner, and Mikey Lutmerding. In the dawn chorus were singing SEDGE WREN, SORA (county bird for all), and a KING RAIL calling from the western tree line. The latter completed the SIX RAIL DAY sweep for most of us.

So that was just Friday night--a decent start to a weekend. I better report on Saturday and Sunday separately.

Before I sign off, please join me in congratulating Hans and Angela on their upcoming wedding!

Also, congratulations are in order for Tom Feild and Geraldine King, who tied the knot at Jericho Ditch in Great Dismal Swamp on Saturday, 4/18!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! 

Good birding,

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com