REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON STATUS OF KING RAIL IN THE BLACKWATER N.W.R.
AREA.

Sean Flint, a refuge biologist, is interested in this subject.  Please send
any comments to him at:  sean_flint at fws dot gov.

Below is what I sent him and some others last week.  


TO:  Sean Flint, Biologist, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

January 18, 2007, Thursday

It's a good day when I hear a KIRA.  It's a red letter day when I see one. 


Please pass along any relevant information or random commentary you can on
King Rails to Sean, esp. if it relates to the MD Eastern Shore, use of
tapes, and/or any differences in vocalizations ebtween KIRA & CLRA.  I
think Sean is interested mostly (only??) in the status of KIRA at
Blackwater N.W.R.

ABUNDANCE.  I feel KIRAs have been declining rather dramatically for at
least 10 years.  One reason may be the degradation of their habitat.  The
marshes are becoming more open, are subject to invasive Phragmites, and are
getting saltier due to salt water intrusion (recent hurricanes exacerbated
this), with consequences for the fresh water vegetation KIRAs like such as
cattails and even three-square, although I think the latter is more
tolerant of saltier conditions than cattails.

BROOKE MEANLEY has said that Gum Swamp was the best place he knew in MD for
KIRAs (in the period 1940-1970 or so) but as we can see this has become
very open and there is a lot of Phragmites there now.  I am a big fan of
Brooke's writings and below, in view of your experience with Dismal Swamp
as well as KIRAs, have cut and pasted from my personal library catalog the
list of Brooke's publications that I have, incl. his USDI monograph on the
KIRA as well as his Birds of North America (BNA) species account, at no. 3
one of the first written.  Brooke and I correspond a few times a year.  He
lives in Kennebunkport, Maine, and is almost 90.  

INFORMATION RESOURCES.  I once saw a distribution list of owners of the
complete BNA (Birds of North America) set and remember there were a lot for
USGS and USF&WS in the Middle Atlantic area.  I hope there's a set at
Blackwater.  If not as you know it is now available online for
subscription.  Ireviewedthis for an American Library Association journal
called "Choice" over a year ago but at the time only c. 5% of the species
accpounts had been revised online.  To tell the truth I've not used it
since then.  Personal subscriptions are only $40/yr. or so.  Institutional
subscriptions are much more expensive.  I think the URL is still thus for
institutions:  http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/institutions.html
  
And of course another great resource that accesses the professional
literature going back to volume 1 of 7 or 8 journals such as "the Auk" is
SORA, avail. at:  http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/   A couple of years ago I
searched SORA for "black rail" and got something like 78 hits.

PLACES WHERE I'VE SEEN OR HEARD KING RAILS LOCALLY:

1.  Pool 1, one well seen last summer.
2.  the reconstituted marsh opposite Pool 3A.  Levin Willey has had them
there.
3.  the little cattail area opposite the entrance to Wildlife Drive on the
other side of Key Wallace Drive.  Levin & I have had them there.
4.  the little pond to the W as one goes out W.D. to the "Observation
Site."
5.  Gum Swamp.
6.  Route 335, right ON the road S of Riggins Corner (I think that's just S
of Bull Point, isn't it?).
7.  the little fresh water swamp just S of Vienna a few hundred feet on
Elliott I. Rd.
8.  N and W of Savanna Lake in several places, esp. where the open marsh
merges into still wet areas that have Panicum.
9.  Claudia Wilds and I saw one flying, saw it well, over the saltmarsh on
Meekins Neck Rd. N of Hooper's I., on Sept. 16 one year, possibly 1977.
10.  On the Upper Blackwater River just S of Cambridge.
11.  Across the Nanticoke River in Wicomico County along old Route 50,
another fine tidal but freshwater vegetated marsh that seems to be
degrading rapidly due to vegetative change & also becoming more open.
12.  Along the upper Choptank River E of the Easton Wastewater Treatment
Plant.
13.  migrants I guess show up sometimes in funny areas, such as our
property in Talbot County near Bellevue, which has no suitable habitat, but
where my wife, Liz, and I flushed one Oct. 26, 1974.
14.  Shorter's Marsh.  Lots of cattails but getting more open every year.
15.  Decoursey Bridge Road.  I hardly every go here, and then am usually en
route to somewhere else, but this looks like good KIRA habitat.
16.  Tankard marshes, Caroline County.  This is a good example of
marshlands that are degrading, becoming more open with much less
vegetation.
17++  various other places I've no doubt forgotten.

FLYOVERS AT NIGHT.  Hal Wierenga has heard presumed King Rails going over
the Annapolis area at night.  My "Big Day" party heard one once over Rick
West's home at night at Wilmington, Delaware.  

VOCALIZATIONS.  DIFFERENTIATION BY HABITAT.  Some people who know much more
than I do maintain that vocalizations of KIRA and Clapper Rail are
identical, or at least, indistinguishable.  In his huge monograph on rails
("Rails of the world", David R. Godine, 1977, p. 125-136) S. Dillon Ripley
considered them the same species, calling them all Clapper Rails and
listing the King as a race, Rallus longirostris elegans, of the Clapper. 
Barry Taylor's "Rails" (of the world, Yale, 1998) treats them separately as
does the A.O.U.  

Brooke Meanley has found them hybridizing in the Delaware Bay marshes of
Delaware ("Auk" 79: 453-457 and also in "Natural history of the King Rail",
both by Brooke).  That "Auk" article says KIRA occur in Delaware in marsh
that most people would think would be CLRA habitat.  Thus ID by habitat
(which assumes "ecological isolation") may not be as certain as I think it
is.  However, if I hear a big rail in cattails or other predominantly fresh
water vege it goes down on my list as a KIRA. If I hear a big rail in
Spartina alterniflora, or Juncus roemerianus, esp. if it is near a big
tidal gut or bay, it goes down as a CLRA.  

On local Christmas counts, such as Southern Dorchester County and Crisfield
compilers Chandler Robbins and Charles Vaughn are not as certain as I am
and often they get recorded on their count reports as "Large Rail."  In my
experience the few times I have seen what I was certain were KIRAs in
saltmarshes were during winter, esp. on the Christmas counts.  unID'd large
rails are sometimes referred to as Kling Rails.

USE OF TAPES.  I've found King Rails to be fickle in responding to tapes. 
As I mentioned on the phone once when our group had recorded 201 species in
one day in Delaware, tying our record, we went to a marsh where KIRAs were
known to be, which would have been species 202, played tapes on a warm May
night, no wind, for 40 minutes to no avail.  Then there times where you
play one sequence and they start squawking right away.  Other times one or
two will call inadvertently when a car door is closed or the engine
started.
  
PRECEIVED CHANGE IN ABUNDANCE OF RALLIDS IN DORCHESTER COUNTY.  Based
mostly on the 2 May all-night counts we conduct every spring these changes
seem to be happening.  Declining are King, Virginia, and Black rails as
well as Sora.  Increasing are Clapper Rail and Common Moorhen.  

RIGHT OUT IN THE OPEN.  SUN.  I've noticed with Clapper Rails that fairly
often soon after sunrise I'll see one on east-facing edges of the marsh
presumably enjoying the morning sun.  SUN and ICE.  A few times I've seen
King Rails under the same conditions but later in the day on south-facing
marsh edges in the sun when most of the water was frozen.  THUNDERSTORMS. 
Some of my best views of King Rails have been on dikes in southern areas
following thunderstorms and rain.  

MUSKRAT LODGES.  Brooke Meanley used to say that where one sees muskrat
lodges this indicates good KIRA habitat.  These lodges seem to be
increasing now, perhaps because of the elimination of Nutrias.

MARYLAND MARSH BIRD SURVEYS.  I have not been involved with these.  One was
conducted 14 or so years ago and recently summarized in "Maryland Birdlife"
by Dave Brinker, Glenn Therres, et al.  I cannot find that issue here -  my
study is a disaster - but I am sure Dave can provide the citation if you
don't have it already.  Has nice maps of where each species was found then.
 The main field work was done by Hal Wierenga, Michael O'Brien, and Eirik
A. T. Blom.  The study was repeated with different parameters in the 2005
breeding season.  Hal Wierenga was involved with this study also, esp. in
Dorchester County.

OTHER SETTINGS.  My easiest and most productive encounters with KIRAs have
been at Savannah R. N.W.R., SC, and Back Bay N.W.R., VA.  KIRA is often
found in marsh that is almost pure Juncus at Back Bay outside of impounded
areas as well as within the impounded areas where there is typical fresh
water vegetation such as cattails and Scirpus.  Bob Ake has done a lot of
playback work at Back Bay.  

MARYLAND BREEDING BIRD ATLAS.  The first atlas summarizes all MD breeding
birds for the 5-year period 1983-1987 ("Atlas of the breeding birds of
Maryland and the District of Columbia", U. Pitttsbrugh Pr., 1996, ed. by
Chandler S. Robbins, 479pp.).  The 2nd MD atlas was also a 5-year period,
of which 2006 was the last year.  Information from that is still
preliminary but Walter Ellison may be able to provide commentary on how
KIRAs fared this time.  Or Lynn Davidson, the atlas coordinator for
Dorchester County.

SOME BROOKE MEANLEY PUBLICATIONS:

Meanley, M. Brooke.  Birdlife at Chincoteague and the Virginia barrier
islands.  Tidewater Publishers.  1981.  117p.  pb.  $7.50.  inscribed: "To
Harry Armistead with regards, Brooke Meanley, April 20, 1981."  2nd c. @
R.F.

____.  Birds and marshes of the Chesapeake Bay country [including the
Chincoteague salt marshes].  Tidewater Publishers.  1975.  157p.  pb. 
$5.00.  CHESAPEAKE.

____.  Blackbirds and the southern rice crop.  USDI, F&WS, BSF&W (resource
publication 100).  1971.  64p.  pb.  gift of the author.  $0.35. 
BLACKBIRDS. 

____.  Blackwater.  Tidewater Publ.  1978.  148p.  pb.  ag.  MARYLAND.  

____.  King Rail.  ANSP, AOU (Birds of North America 3).  1992.  12p.  pb. 
gift of the author.  RAILS.  

____.  The marsh hen: a natural history of the Clapper Rail of the Atlantic
Coast salt marsh.  TP.  1985.  123p.  illus. by John W. Taylor.  pb. 
review copy.  $8.95.  RAILS.  

____.  Natural history of the King Rail.  USDI, BSFW (North American fauna
67).  1969.  108p.  pb.  inscribed: "Inscribed for my good friend Van, with
fond memories of east Arkansas days. Brooke Meanley."  2nd c. @ R.F. 
RAILS.

____.  Natural history of the Swainson's Warbler.  USDI, F&WS, BSF&W (North
American fauna 69).  1971.  90p.  pb.  gift of the author.  $0.50.  2nd c.
@ R.F.  WARBLERS.

____.  Notes on southern marshes, swamps, and pineywoods.  pa.  2001.  84p.
 pb.  gift of the author.  the SOUTHEAST.

____.  The Patuxent River wild rice marsh.  Maryland-National Capital Parks
and Planning Commission.  1996.  91p.  illus. by John W. Taylor.  pb.  gift
of the author.  MARYLAND.

____.  The Patuxent River wild rice marsh.  pa.  1992.  69p.  illus. by
John W. Taylor.  pb.  gift of Brooke Meanley.  @ R.F.  MARYLAND.

____.  Swamps, river bottoms and canebrakes.  Barre Publ.  1972.  142p. 
hb.  the SOUTHEAST.  

____.  Waterfowl of the Chesapeake Bay country.  TP.  1982.  210p.  hb. 
pc.  ag.  inscribed: "to Harry Armistead with regards, Brooke Meanley,
March 17, 1982."  2nd c. @ R.F.  $19.95.  CHESAPEAKE. 

____, Louise Brooke & Shanta Brooke Keller.  Notes on Dismal Swamp plants. 
pa.  October 2001.  sb.  gift of MBM.  includes letter from MBM to HTA
dated Dec. 8, 2001.  text has computer-scanned photographs taken by MBM
1957-1993.  VIRGINIA.

Harry Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119-1225. 
215-248-4120.  Please always use this e-mail address for me: 
harryarmistead at hotmail dot com   

cc: 

George Adams
Robert L. Ake
Dixie Birch
David Brinker
Bill Burt
Lynn M. Davidson
Walter Ellison
John O. Fussell
Greg Kearns
Roger Stone
Charlie Vaughn
Hal L. Wierenga
Levin Willey