Hi Jack:

I didn't see the reference from a couple of weeks ago about someone seeing
one a few weeks ago at Irish Grove. Other than an accidental sighting, here
in MD most people find them at Elliott Island (Dorchester County, south of
Vienna) in the middle of the summer, in the middle of the night, when the
birds are on territory (June and July) by playing tapes and drawing them
out to the edge of the marsh. Just beyond Irish Grove is a descent looking
marsh, but I think smaller than Elliott Island; I don't know if people
regularly look for and find them in that marsh, however.

Bottom line ... I think there are no reliable places at this time of the
year. If I were to try and tape them out, I'd probably go to the Elliott
Island marshes, since that's probably the largest concentration of them
(however, the last few years, the numbers seem to be down ... so what's new?).

Hope this helps (although I guess it probably doesn't).

Good luck with "Shrimpy" today.

Phil



At 16:48 10/11/2004 -0700, you wrote:
>I will be in Maryland Tues. Oct. 12 for a few days.
>Is there a reliable spot to look for a Black Rail?  I
>understand one was seen at Irish Grove a couple of
>weeks ago.  Could someone give me directions to IG ,
>or another similar spot on the St. Mary's side of the
>bay? I realize IG is quite a ways from Annapolis.
>
>Thanks, and I will have my laptop monitoring MDOSPREY.
>
>Jack.
>
>=====
>Jack Revare
>Leawood, KS USA
>
>Family History Book:  revare.com/jack/

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Phil Davis      Davidsonville, Maryland     USA
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