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Re: Inland Black Rails (not seen)



The history of Black Rail distribution in North Carolina is briefly
discussed in

David Lee. 1999. Extinction, Extirpation, and Range Reduction of
Breeding Birds in North Carolina: What Can Be Learned?  Chat 63:103-122.

To summarize in a few words, he speculates that prior to 1800 Black
Rails did not nest in inland NC.  "It appears that Black Rails expanded
their breeding distribution into inland sites as a result of post-Civil
War agricultural practices and disappeared from those sites when
agricultural practices changed."  The favorable agricultural conditions
were wet meadows that were mowed annually for hay.  The later change
was that when horses were replaced with tractors, agricultural wetlands
were drained because tractors don't work well in wet soils.

Kent Fiala
Raleigh

John Daughtry wrote:
> 
>     This is a response to Frank Enders comments about inland Black
> Rails.
> I read an article last year (possibly in NC Wildlife) which mentioned
> that inland Black Rails were once much less rare due to agricultural
> practices.  No doubt someone receiving this message can identify the
> article or describe the specific agricultural practice.
> 
> John Daughtry
> Greenville, NC