[mou] On finding a King Rail
Pmegeland@aol.com
Pmegeland@aol.com
Sun, 22 Feb 2004 00:24:32 EST
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I have been fortunate in recording 11 King Rails in the past 35 years in
Minnesota. Their were five different sightings; one family group of two adults and
five young, and three sightings and one heard only occurrence. With this as a
back drop, how did I find that many? Two sightings were serendipity ie I
wasn't looking for them and the other three were result of actually looking for
marsh birds. My experience is that King Rails are not shy. The family group was
along busy highway US 212 and heard only record was along busy US 12.
King Rails do not require a large marsh, the family group was in a marsh of
about 1 acre since drained, one record was in an area of about 3 acres, two
sightings were in marshes of about 50 acres and the last was at the Big Stone
refuge.
Time of day is not important; one record was early morning, one in late
morning, one is middle of afternoon, one about sunset and the last at midnight.
There was only one common theme in finding King Rails, that was finding them
calling. The King Rail has a very loud and carrying call and was how I found
all but the family group.
These record were from Meeker, Renville, Lyon and Lac Qui Parle counties.
When to look? Except for the family group which were seen in July, the records
were from the middle of May to the middle of June.
I believe that the above information should tell birder that there is no
magic to finding King Rails, just expose yourself to a lot of small marshes in May
and June and keep your ears tuned.
I have done this for many more years of late without success but will keep
trying.
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<DIV>I have been fortunate in recording 11 King Rails in the past 35 years i=
n Minnesota. Their were five different sightings; one family group of two ad=
ults and five young, and three sightings and one heard only occurrence. With=
this as a back drop, how did I find that many? Two sightings were serendipi=
ty ie I wasn't looking for them and the other three were result of actually=20=
looking for marsh birds. My experience is that King Rails are not shy. The f=
amily group was along busy highway US 212 and heard only record was along bu=
sy US 12. </DIV>
<DIV>King Rails do not require a large marsh, the family group was in a mars=
h of about 1 acre since drained, one record was in an area of about 3 acres,=
two sightings were in marshes of about 50 acres and the last was at the Big=
Stone refuge.</DIV>
<DIV>Time of day is not important; one record was early morning, one in late=
morning, one is middle of afternoon, one about sunset and the last at midni=
ght.</DIV>
<DIV>There was only one common theme in finding King Rails, that was fi=
nding them calling. The King Rail has a very loud and carrying call and was=20=
how I found all but the family group.</DIV>
<DIV>These record were from Meeker, Renville, Lyon and Lac Qui Parle countie=
s. When to look? Except for the family group which were seen in July, the re=
cords were from the middle of May to the middle of June.</DIV>
<DIV>I believe that the above information should tell birder that there is n=
o magic to finding King Rails, just expose yourself to a lot of small marshe=
s in May and June and keep your ears tuned. </DIV>
<DIV>I have done this for many more years of late without success but will k=
eep trying.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>
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