Tuesday, May 13, 2014

It was a Rail day

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this week's wild bird I am featuring the Virginia Rail..

 Hubby and I were among many of the Maryland birders that went to see the Virginia Rails being seen at the Swan Harbor Farms in Aberdeen, Maryland.. On one day 10-11 Virginia Rails were being seen.  Hubby and I saw 5 Virginia Rails, a Sora,  a Clapper Rail on the same day at the same place.. We sat in a blind and just watched them coming out of the reeds. It was so cool. We thought we also saw the King Rail, but it is not included in any of my photos..


 The Virginia Rail is a small water bird of the Rallidae family. Their breeding habitat is marshlands. They are secretive bird that usually remain hidden in the vegetation. They have a long curved red bill and gray cheeks, rufous throat and breast.





A Virginia Rail and muskrat


Together above were three Virginia Rails and a Sparrow.





 A few Sora's were being seen also.. With this bird their yellow beak is good to help with their id. This bird was able to hide and more shy than the rails..


Another Clapper Rail was seen with the Virginia Rails.. It's beak looks a little darker than the Clapper Rail I saw at Forsythe.  It was Rail weekend for me after seeing the Clapper Rail at Edwin Forsythe only two days earlier.



Thanks for stopping by my post and for all the nice comments.

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.  Thanks to our host Michelle our host Stewart.  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

65 comments:

Seraphinas Phantasie said...

Really wonderful this special bird with the long beak. Gorgeous !
Best regards, Synnöve

Carole M. said...

fantastic pics of the rail Eileen; I've never seen one for myself...

rainfield61 said...

Home sweet home, this is what the place means to these birds.

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

HI Eileen What a wonderful bird to see and photograph. not an easy job. You did very well. By the way Eileen I will be on Copeland Island again this weekend with NO internet so if I put my post on just before I leave on Friday, can you link it in for me please.

jp@A Green Ridge said...

What wonderful pix you were able to get!!! ...:)JP

diane b said...

Great shots of such shy birds. I love their eyes and colouring

chica said...

Que lindo, como sempre belas fotos! beijos,chica

EG CameraGirl said...

Super photos, Eileen. Virginia rails are usually very secretive.

Elizabeth Edwards said...

i am glad you caught thing. so camouflaged. you always teach me something. love that. thanks!! ( :

vivi ka said...

It was a Rail weekend for you and a happy time for us to enjoy your beautiful photos of them! Thank you for sharing!

Optimistic Existentialist said...

I think it's awesome that you and your husband do this together and share the same love of birds :)

Mary Howell Cromer said...

WOW what a spectacular day you all must have had, marvelous share~

Phil Slade said...

It's always good to get photos of rails as they are such shy creatures. Your picture s are just great Eileen. Enjoy the rest of your week.

Montanagirl said...

He's a winner for sure - that first shot is fabulous!!

TexWisGirl said...

wow! these are spectacular! congrats on the sightings and the shots!

Stewart M said...

I always think its a good day if I see a rail of any sort - they are normally very secretive. Nice pictures.

Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

PS: there is a brief explanation of why the beach squeaks in this weeks WBW.

Gail Dixon said...

These birds are so secretive which makes your shots even more incredible. We had reports of a Sora that's been seen in the garden dept. of Home Depot in New Orleans. Of all places! Home Depot? Wild.

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

Little buggers love to hide in the grass, don't they (wink)

Irma said...

Beautiful pictures, Eileen
My favorite is photo 5.
Greetings Irma

Linda W. said...

Great photos! What an interesting looking bird.

Unknown said...

Great shots as always, Eileen. Would love to see this for myself in the near future.

Karen said...

Wow, what luck to have seen and photographed these secretive birds! I love the red beak. Great captures!

DIMI said...

Hello Eileen!!Great captures and gorgeous pictures of the Virginia Rail!This is a very beautiful bird!Hope you have a happy week!Hugs!
Dimi...

Jann said...

Great photos! I'd love to see some rails here in Florida…am relatively new here so hopefully I'll see at least one in the near future!

Debbie said...

i love the very natural surroundings!! these are really beautiful eileen, great snapping!!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Gorgeous birds that I've never ever seen... Both Clapper Rails and Virginia Rails are beautiful birds. Thanks for sharing.
Hugs,
Betsy

Rohrerbot said...

Really nice Eileen!!! That is a sweet bird to find out in the open. The rail birds intimidate me because they can be so difficult and secretive to find. Beautiful photos and congrats!

Karen said...

You got some wonderful shots of the Rail.

Our photos said...

Very nice !

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Nice shots! I hate when birds won't come out of the grass to let you get a clear shot, but you got a few anyway. :-)

thewovenspoke said...

Absolutely great photos, they are really neat birds.

sunshine said...

Wow, fascinating birds and photos.

Carver said...

I enjoyed this look at the rails through your photographic eye.

Kenneth Cole Schneider said...

Great find, nicely captured!

NatureFootstep said...

how do you manage to get so many great shots of a bird like that? I find it quite impossible. :(

Jenn Jilks said...

I learn about so many new birds from you!
(ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!

Anonymous said...

This is a wonderful post, Eileen. And a Sora and Clapper? I'm happy if I get one rail in a year.

HappyK said...

You got some really good shots of these birds.
Looks like the weather was great too.

Pat said...

Wonderful captures of these beautiful birds.

DeniseinVA said...

It must have been exciting to see this bird Eileen. Great photos! Have a great week :)

Brian King said...

Wow, these are great photos! I've never seen a Rail.

Sue (this n that) said...

Thanks for showing us the Rail birds Eileen - very nice with that distinctive beak. I am very taken especially with your 5th photo - lovely reflection :D)

Zizi Santos said...

Não conhecia esse pássaro.
Simplesmente maravilhoso!

Zizi
http://zizi-santos.blogspot.com.br/

Stephanie said...

Another bird I have never seen before, really like the long beaks and it colors on the feathers.

Linda said...

Love the orange beak!

orchid0324 said...

Wow, your Virginia Rail pictures are really great♡♡♡ Birds sure are secretive or cautious; the other day when my husband kindly stopped our car as he spotted the kind I might not know along the river bank. I was happy but they flew away instantly seeing me p;)
Rufous is the word I liked to learn from you, haha.

Sending you Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan to dear Eileen, xoxo Miyako*

Andrea said...

I love the very sharp eyes on the first photo and the other one with its reflection on the water. What are they eating from there that needs that long beak?

Bob Bushell said...

I have been hunting down a Water Rail, but I can't get one. You have found one, beautiful photos.

Indrani said...

I am wondering how much trouble you took to photograph them. Great pics.
Thanks for showing.
Great post for NN!

i stora drag said...

I enjoyed looking at your waterbirds and nice photos! I'm not so familair with these birds.
Thanks for your visit and comment, Eileen! /Pia

Elaine said...

Very nice!!

Hootin Anni said...

Amazing rails Eileen!!!

fim.works said...

So amazing photos, Eileen!
I'm ver< glad, that i found the saturday critters, so i can see all the great photos!

Hugs, Frauke

Noushka said...

Hello Eileen!
Your pics of the rail are gorgeous especially the first one!
I have had a look at your latest post and enjoyed each photo!
Thanks for sharing!
Keep well!

George said...

It looks as if you had a very successful Rail day. You definitely got some good pictures.

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

Wow - so many amazing photos.

Maude Lynn said...

Beautiful shots, Eileen!

Carletta said...

I've never seen these birds so this was a treat Eileen. You do have some some wonderful birding adventures.
Love that first shot!

Anonymous said...

Hi Eileen, Such amazing birds! I have seen the Coots, Moorhens, and a Limpkin (I don't know if the Limpkin is a Rail but it sure does look similar to one). Have a great Thursday tomorrow. Great Pictures of those Rails.

Roan said...

A successful day of birding. Great shots!

Rambling Woods said...

I love seeing your bird photos Eileen. I have never had the pleasure of seeing these birds myself... Michelle

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photographs, I like the shot of the Virginia Rail and muskrat the best! :)

Have a great weekend!

Ela said...

Beautiful pictures and gorgeous birds :)

Helma said...

Really like this bird. Especially your first picture is very pretty sharp, bright and beautiful color. Beautiful bird :-)

Florence said...

Beautiful photography! I've seen rails on occasion but never clearly enough to photograph.

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