According to the Tony White state-by-state lists that are available to use
with AviSys, there are Corn Crake records for CT, ME, NJ, NY, RI, NS, NF and
NU. I haven’t kept my Tony White lists up to date - they are about 18
months out-of-date, so this list of states/provinces may not be current.
There may be additional records to date or some of the states listed may
have voted to not accept their records; Tony's practice is to include
pending records, and then if the records are not accepted they are deleted
later. Still this short list of states and provinces gives some idea of the
scarcity of sightings. Corn Crakes do not pop up everywhere.
Marcia
________________________
Marcia Watson
Bowie, MD
-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Ross Geredien
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 4:41 PM
To:
Subject: Re: Corn Crake
Given the rarity of such a sighting, I wonder if the bird would be a
captive/escaped bird (if the ID pans out)? The only record in eBird for
North America is a 1900 record from Worcester County, whose provenance is
still under investigation by the MOS Records committee. Thanks to Bill
Hubick for entering this historical record.
Rails in general are not known to stray across the Atlantic.
Keep us posted.
Ross
Follow Me on Twitter
@goodmigrations1
________________________________
From: Mike Hudson <>
To:
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 4:06 PM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Corn Crake
I've seen Corn Crakes on both my trips to Europe and that description is
fitting. The reddish wing patch would be great to clinch the ID, but
honestly is not always conspicuous. In my opinion what stood out most on the
birds I saw were the barred flanks and heavily streaked and spotted
upperparts.
The habitat which you're describing is also very appropriate. Especially
since the first day you saw it the ground was fairly dry. The only native
rail that would be expected in dry habitat is the Yellow Rail, which it
seems you have ruled out.
I seem to have misplaced the original email that you sent, where has this
bird been sighted? I don't think I'll be able it go check it out, but it is
possible.
Mike H.
Baltimore City
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Steve Long" <>
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 3:57 PM
To: <>
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Corn Crake
> Hi Ross,
>
> I am no expert on rails, and I am not working from my home. So, my
> resources are limited here. The only other person that I know of who
> saw the bird mentioned it to me this morning. She knew it was
> unusual, but is not a birder, so all she could do is verify my
> estimate of its size. She apparently saw it shortly after I did, so
> it must have walked back to the ditch once I left the area. I looked
> for it again this morning, but did not see it. The only functioning
> camera here is a pocket digital. Even if it I see the bird again,
> unless it poses as close as I got to it yesterday, the pictures would
> probably be marginal. However, I now know what filed marks I really need
to see (the "large rusty wing patch").
>
> With respect to ruling-out other rails: It appeared to be too large
> to be a Yellow Rail. It did not look in shape or color like any of
> the illustrations of adult or immature Sora Rails in the bird books
> that are available to me here. However, the illustrations of both the
> immature Sora and the Crake are quite varied in the various bird books
> that my Mother has here. And, so are the length figures.
>
> The bird that I saw was mostly a buffy color, with a very distinct but
> not very high contrast pattern of darker centers and lighter borders
> on the back feathers. The belly feathers were much paler, and the
> vertical streaking near the back of the belly was very muted and more
> like buff-on-white than black-on-buff or black-on-white. The beak was
> not a very noticeable color or shape - pale tan and not shaped like a
> chicken's. There were no distincitve eye stripes, head color patches
> or wing bars. Apparently, what would have clinched the identification
> is the "large rusty wing patch" that is shown conspicuously on all of
> the illustrations of a Crake and mentioned in all of the write-ups.
> However, I did not know that when I happened upon the bird, so I was not
concentrating on evaluating that particular feature.
> There was some solid tan/brown between the back pattern and the belly,
> but I don't remember it being such an obvious red-rust color as
> depicted in the book illustrations.
>
> If somebody could give me links to actual pictures of Crakes and
> immature Soras, I might gain some more confidence about the
> identification. But, at this point, the immature Sora is just a
> nagging doubt in my mind because I don't really know what they can look
like within their range of variability.
> Dendroica dose not seem to have photos of Soras nor Crakes.
>
> One additional factor is the location of the sighting, which is on the
> margin of a large agricultural field, a few hundred yards from the
> nearest salt marsh. My understasnding is that Crakes prefer fields
> and Soras prefer marshes. But, maybe not all of each species has
> "read that book."
>
> Steve
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ross Geredien"
> <>
> To: "Steve Long" <>
> Cc: <>
> Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 12:57 PM
> Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Corn Crake
>
>
>> Hi Steve and everyone,
>> Corn Crake would truly be a mega-rarity. Do you have any additional
>> documentation? Were all other rails ruled out? Has anyone else tried
>> to verify this?
>>
>> Ross Geredien
>> Edgewater
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>
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