Fred, Phil,


The 1994 Black Rail was in a flooded field along West Wiilard Road.  I was doing a big day with Paul Pisano and Ottavio Janni.  We started at Sugarloaf and worked our way to Montgomery Co by a bit after 3 AM, as I recall.  We stopped just south of West Offutt Road because we had heard a Whip-poor-will there when scouting.  We never got the Whip, but were stunned to hear the Black Rail calling.  The big day ended at Truitt's Landing but we only got 176 species.  Two evenings later I took a simple tape recorder and went back to West Willard around 10:30 PM.  Sure enough, the rail was still there and calling but the breeze and traffic made recording difficult, especially with a crude recorder.  To hear anything you have to damp out most of the sound spectrum and focus on one narrow band.  Even then, if you haven't had extensive experience with hearing Black Rails at a distance you might not be able to pick out the calls.  George Jett went out the next night and I think heard it, but I don't remember his getting any recordings. 


 Somebody needs to record the Hughes Hollow bird for absolute documentation.


Great find!


Paul O'Brien
Rockville, Mont. Co., MD





-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Davis <>
To: MDOSPREY <>
Sent: Sat, May 7, 2011 9:26 am
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Possible Black Rail


Hi Fred, et al.

FYI ... There is a prior report, with an audio recording, of a Black 
Rail from the same area, almost to the day ...

Black Rail
MD/2003-003
Ready
05/09/1994 - 05/12/1994
MD MONT Poolesville / West Willard Road just south of West Offutt Road

Phil

At 12:55 05/07/2011, Fred Shaffer wrote:
(snip)
>I know it is extremely improbable for a Black Rail to be in there, ...
(snip)


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Phil Davis, Secretary
MD/DC Records Committee
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Davidsonville, Maryland  21035     USA
301-261-0184
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MD/DCRC Web site:  http://www.MDBirds.org/mddcrc/rcindex.html
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