Please humor a birder here that has never seen a King Rail in MN. In fact I am not sure on how to differentiate the call between the Virginia and the King.
Linked is two files that I had identified as Virginia Rails. Please confirm they are Virginia and give an indication of the unique part of a King call that I should listen for when listening to Rails. Not a great recording as I did not target this bird and was simply testing a couple microphones. recorded 4/18/03, Shurburn WLR, N45.45807, W93.70802, 6:30AM, 30 degrees F, Overcast, Wind east at 5mph, edge of wetland on auto tour route. I have this bird calling for 1 hour. 285kb download http://home.comcast.net/~richpeet/kingvvirginia1.mp3 712kb download http://home.comcast.net/~richpeet/kingvvirginia2.mp3 Rich Peet >From: [email protected] >To: [email protected], [email protected] >Subject: [mou] Re: [mou] Accidental? No, we're not kidding (very long) >Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 13:03:25 EST > >Either way, I think that Accidental clearly defines the current status of >King Rail in Minnesotaâa species which has not been seen since 1992 and >is likely >to occur again only at very infrequent intervals. When MORC completed the >1999 checklist, King Rail had been seen in only three of the last ten >years, but >we erred on the side of positivity, and defined this species as Casual. The >last nesting attempt was in 1983 and the last positive breeding was in >1976. >This species has not been Regular since the 1978 edition of our checklist, >so a >move to Accidental is not at all unexpected or surprising. What alternative >status does Russell suggest for King Rail? Casual? Regular? Extirpated? >Extinct? >These are the only choices. > >Russell acts surprised that King Rail has changed status in the last 20 or >30 >years, but think of all the species which have changed significantly in >that >amount of time (on the 1978 checklist, House Finch was considered >Hypothetical, Baird's Sparrow was Regular but is now Accidental, and Lesser >Black-backed >Gull did not even occur on the checklist even thought it is now Regular). > >Russell claims King Rails may breed in South Dakota, but the current status >of this species in South Dakota is Accidental (!), with only two breeding >records, the last in 1974 (Tallman, Swanson and Palmer, 2002). Although >Russell >also claims King Rails breed in Iowa and Wisconsin, a quick internet check >showed >this species to be both Endangered and Casual in Iowa, and to be rare in >Wisconsin with Special Concern or "imperiled" breeding status (the current >Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas does not show any confirmed breeding >reports). Thus, he >has painted a picture of King Rails breeding all around Minnesota based on >faulty information. > _________________________________________________________________ Click, drag and drop. My MSN is the simple way to design your homepage. http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200364ave/direct/01/
