Hi Ross,

While listening for night migrants, I have occasionally wondered if an individual was on the ground based on its perceived location. In several of those cases, it became clear that the birds were slowly moving by in the distance. It makes sense that the farther away the bird is, the more likely it is to sound like its on the ground. I have now heard Clapper/King Rails calling overhead (recently on 4/17 at locations on the coast), as well as a presumed night migrant Black Rail (April 2009 in Somerset). The latter, in particular, had an "angle" that at first made me wonder if it was on the ground.

In-flight calling seems more likely to me in your case, but of course rails do turn up in strange places including seemingly dry power line cuts, random fields, parking lots, and downtown Baltimore. I suppose a tired bird could stop anywhere. The timing is great for migrant rails, and you've probably seen the recent Clapper Rail reports from Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties. That said, most people identify night migrant King/Clapper Rails as "large rail sp." because of the extreme similarity of calls. I would probably use "large rail sp." for a heard-only King/Clapper anywhere away from the coast in migration. Well, I'd probably ID a calling bird at Lilypons as a King Rail, but there is a migrant Clapper record from Allegany County! (Cumberland, 8/30/1962)

Just some thoughts! 

Bill


Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com


--- On Mon, 5/3/10, Ross Geredien <> wrote:

[snip]

>  So, tell me if I'm nuts here, but I just took out the
> recycling and heard what sounded exactly like Kek calls of a
> Clapper Rail.  It sounded like it was coming from down the
> street in my dense residential neighborhood.  Possibly it
> was in migration overhead, but it didn't sound like it was
> moving.