Marsh Bird Surveys

The research staff has spent yet another Spring surveying marsh birds. Once a week for the past 6 weeks, staff arrive to work well before dawn and begin the survey approximately 30 minutes before official sunrise. The species of interest in this survey are Black Rail, Virginia Rail, King Rail, Clapper Rail, Least Bittern, Sora, and Common Moorhen. The data is ultimately used by the D.E.E.P., as we are just one place of many that perform this sort of survey. However, this data is also useful to us here at White Memorial because it tells us about the health of our wetlands. These birds are considered indicator species, ie, they indicate how much humans have disturbed that habitat. So, you can imagine our excitement when we find the birds we're looking for!

Interns Abby Wilson (Left) and Cheyenne Liberti (Right) during the
canoe portion of the survey on the Bantam River

The surveys start at first light (30 minutes before official dawn) and generally last about three to four hours. The survey consists of 16 points at which researchers drive or boat to. Once at the point, researchers play a CD provided by the D.E.E.P. The CD begins with 5 minutes of silence to allow the birds to settle after the initial disturbance of arriving on scene. Next, 7 different songs/calls are played for 30 seconds each, and separated by 30 seconds of silence. Whenever researchers hear a call or song of one of the birds of interest, we record the species heard, and at which point in the CD we heard it.

Pictured above is the CD player  a point on the survey which is accessed by truck.  

So far this season, researchers have heard Sora and Virginia Rail. As seen in a previous blog post, we were lucky enough to see a Virginia Rail calling to our canoe at the end of a recent survey. It called to us at the very last point on the survey, so once the CD was finished playing and the survey was over, we used an app to play Virginia Rail calls toward its direction. Within a few minutes we saw two, calling to us and back and forth to each other. The one pictured in the video in the previous blog post actually flew right into the gunwale of our canoe about 30 seconds after that video was taken. These birds are so mysterious. Not much is known about them, and they are presumed to be very secretive. In this encounter however, we witnessed some curious behavior by the birds.
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Here is a link to the blog post which highlights the Virginia Rail discussed above:Virginia Rail Call

Here is a D.E.E.P. special report from 1999 when state biologists first began these surveys :
Special Report Wetland Birds
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Photo of a Sora courtesy of Ian Davies -Macauley Library

Cornell Lab of Ornithology : SORA

Photo of a Virginia Rail courtesy of Evan Lipton - Macauley Library

Cornell Lab of Ornithology : Virginia Rail

Elusive Marsh Bird Callback Survey

Summer intern Molly Mullen paddles up the Bantam River at dawn

White Memorial Conservation Center is conducting a callback survey for elusive marsh birds as part of a nation-wide project coordinated by USGS and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.   We are looking for black, sora, Virginia, clapper and king rails, as well as the American and least bitterns and the pied billed grebe.  The survey has two routes, one walking and driving to different points, and one taking a canoe down the Bantam River.  For each survey, several points along the routes are selected, and at those points we play recordings of different marsh bird calls, separated by periods of silence.  The survey must begin at first light, half an hour before dawn.  This time of year, males are setting up territory and defending it against rivals.  By playing a call, we’re announcing ourselves and possibly challenging the boundaries of established birds.

            Hopefully, they will rise to the challenge and call back.  Odds are that several of the species on the CD would not even be present at a freshwater marsh so far inland, but even the rails we can expect to find here, like the Virginia rail or the sora rail, are difficult to find.  We may not ever actually see them, and even hearing them is unusual.  They’re cryptically colored in earth tones, not very big, and extremely shy.  It’s hard to tell whether or not a species is in trouble if you never see them.  Recent data shows a decline in populations of many marsh birds, making it all the more important to keep an eye on their populations.  These birds can act as indicators; we learn about how the marsh is functioning as habitat based on what birds are choosing to use it.  So far, we have detected Virginia rails at two locations, and a sora rail at one.