Peterson's Eastern Birds' Nests guide mentions a canopy of live sedges and
rushes over a Va. Rail nest. That might be your tunnel.
_____
From: va-bird-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:va-bird-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Ntrlst1@xxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2008 10:30 AM
To: Va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Ntrlst1@xxxxxxx
Subject: [Va-bird] Huntley Meadows-Mourning Warbler, VA Rail Family
Stuart Merrell
Ntrlst1@xxxxxxx
Went down to Huntley for a short list on Sunday. It was fun to watch a
Virginia Rail parent
with its two young skittering among the short tuft islands of reedy grass.
They seemed to favor
dashing back and forth between one tunnel into the grass. A nest perhaps?
Also of note was
their tendency to fix their activity within an (approximate) 15 foot radius
around their supposed
nest. Perhaps, the young (who were just short of being young adults), were
not sufficiently
independent of the parent(s?) to venture forth more. Or food availability
was limited to that
small set of tufts of grasses. The former hypothesis seemed far more likely
to me.
The rails could be seen after you exit the first loop, just short of
landfall about 12 or so feet
on the right hand side of the boardwalk
About halfway back to the main entrance, in a sunny patch of woods on the
left, I heard a loud
cheery-cheery-cheery like call. I stood completely still and noticed a
yellow warbler with a greyish
hood hanging around some small herbaceous trees (that is a guess). I went
home and checked
the song against the other hooded warblers and realized that the bird was a
morning warbler;
a life bird!
Since there is no freelist that favors entry of other animals to cater to
other naturalists and specialists,
I also saw a Northern Water snake and a five-lined skink from and at the
boardwalk in the Dyke Marsh peninsula.
A naturalist-at-large
_____
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