King Rail

I participated in Illinois's Spring Bird Count on Saturday, 10 May 2014, in Washington County, the one below where I live. I joined four other birders in the largest contiguous block of bottomland forest in the State, which is along the Kaskaskia River.

We walked along an east-west gravel road that leads into the dense forest. On the north side of the road is an oxbow, marking a former channel of the Kaskaskia River. It's over a quarter mile in length, and about 150- to 200-feet in width. The eastern half of the oxbow has some open water, but the western half has become a marsh.

One of the birders lives along the gravel road near the edge of the forest, and her family dog, a black lab called Cali, accompanied us.

Mosquitoes were terrible, and it was a warm day with temperatures topping out in the mid-80s. Cali occasionally left the road, and we'd hear him splashing through the water, maybe because of the mosquitoes, heat, or perhaps simply because black labs love water.

On one such occasion as we approached the western end of the oxbow, clicking noises were heard from the marsh as Cali went for another noisy swim. I commented that it sounded like a King Rail, but because I'd never seen one, I wasn't sure. The noises stopped, and my attention eventually returned to vireo and warbler songs.

My birding companions with Glenn in the foreground.

We continued birding, and leaving the marsh behind, entered a piece of ground that was higher than the surrounding area. My companions explained that it was sufficiently high that it didn't flood. The vegetation was different and very thick making us almost disappear in the foliage as we followed a narrow trail.

Later we returned to the gravel road, and followed it back the way we had come. I was out in front of the group, and Glenn, one of the birders behind me reported seeing a large, brown bird with trailing legs flying over the marsh vegetation and dropping back into it. He had his bird book open to the rails, but wasn't sure which one he had seen.

Later that night after the count had ended, I put two and two together, or in this case, one and one. I remembered the clicking sounds we had heard, and that combined with Glenn's sighting of what surely sounded like a rail led me to believe we had encountered a King Rail.

King Rails have been diminishing in number over recent years, and this was the first King Rail reported this spring in Illinois. Although it took a while to figure out what it was, it was an exciting birding moment, and one that keeps me returning time after time to the woods with binoculars in hand, and wondering what natural wonders I will find.