--- "Alt, Mark" <[email protected]> wrote: >If > anyone has a methodology and an idea of where to go > to find King Rails, let me know. It can't be much harder than chasing Yellow Rails in McGregor, and I considered that fun.
Years ago there was a concentrated effort to find Yellow Rails in North Dakota. The surveyor (Gordon Berkey?) found far more Yellow Rail locations than previously known. There have been various techniques put forward to look for wetland species. Many of them are variants on call counts with tape playback. As long as the methodology is consistent then you are making a reasonable effort. For King Rail it might mean - 1) Identify areas the species is likely to be found (a wheatfield won't cut it). If there are roads then you can use a road survey. If not, it may mean some work in boats. 2) Determine an adequate distance between survey points (this might take some literature review). Maybe every quarter of a mile, maybe a half-mile, maybe a mile. 3) Stop at that point during peak calling period and listen for 1 minute. If you hear a rail mark it present and move on. If you don't, play a tape for a period of time (again, check the literature). Stop and listen for 1 minute. Try again. No response, assume bird is not present. 4) Repeat for other wetlands on your survey route. Obviously, this would need to be refined but the goal is a survey not a population estimate nor looking for population trends. ===== Jeff Price Boulder, CO [email protected] __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools
