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Fw: RAILS! RAILS!! RAILS!!! (even BLACK!!! ) / ARK.



The following message came across on TN Birds.  Apparently harvesting rice
flushes the rails.

Judy Murray
Chapel Hill, NC

-----Original Message-----
From: OLCOOT1@AOL.COM <OLCOOT1@AOL.COM>
To: TN-BIRD@LIST.AUDUBON.ORG <TN-BIRD@LIST.AUDUBON.ORG>
Date: Tuesday, October 10, 2000 9:38 PM
Subject: RAILS! RAILS!! RAILS!!! (even BLACK!!! ) / ARK.


>Oct. 10, 2000
>Crittenden, Ark.
>
>I sent Mike Resch, an ardent ticker from MA (I think he is second on the
ABA
>tick list) to the Clay Pits and Rice Fields today just across the bridge.
He
>called late this afternoon and had a multitude of ticks to talk about. The
>field that I had watched Sunday that was too wet reached perfection today
>(bird wise). The two short passes I had watched Sunday before they stopped
>combining because of wet conditions revealed a healthy number of rails (13)
>but Mike was treated to an AMAZING concentration of these birds. In this
one
>section he watched being harvested he tallied 275 RAILS. As he followed the
>combine on one run next to a field road and I must say it must have been
>something to see, he counted 135 flushing rails.
>
>He needed a Yellow Rail for a "LIfer" and he got good looks at one and had
>two more quick looks of birds he was pretty sure of also being Yellow
Rails.
>But the real birds for the day were 3 BLACK RAILS which were seen. One was
>right at his and the farm owners feet as they talked at the end of the
field.
>The unbelievable numbers continued for 2 1/2 to 3 hours with approximately
55
>Virginia and 220 Sora tallied.
>
>Quite an afternoon of birding and I'm sure some time around noon tomorrow
>I'll disappear over the bridge to hopefully, "RAIL HEAVEN." Evidently these
>Rails came in on the front; we have been getting what I thought were good
>numbers TILL THIS.
>
>Good Birding!!!
>
>Jeff R. Wilson
>OL' COOT / TLBA
>Bartlett Tenn.
>