Monday, April 20, 2015

Searching for Black Rail Records in Nevada

The official checklist for Nevada is maintained by the Nevada Bird Records Committee (NBRC), which also maintains a list of species considered rare enough in the state to require documentation, called the "review list". There are still a handful of "review species" on the checklist for which there are no NBRC-endorsed records. One of those species is the Black Rail, and that's where GBBO and its contacts might be able to help.

There have been several reports of Black Rails encountered during surveys in southern Nevada. However, there has been no reviewable documentation for this species provided to the NBRC. Of course, seeing, and especially photographing, a Black Rail is no easy task.  But modern technology has provided a relatively straightforward way for someone encountering a Black Rail to document it satisfactorily using video available on most cameras and cell phones to record diagnostic vocalizations. And HEARING a Black Rail is a heck of a lot easier than seeing one!

So this is a plea to all of you who are out there in Black Rail habitat.  Should you encounter one, vocalizing on its own or in response to playback used in surveying, please try to record the diagnostic vocalizations.  Submission of such recordings to the NBRC, along with location, date, circumstances of observation, and names and contact information of the observer(s), would very likely permit an endorsement by the committee, assuring that Black Rail remains on the state checklist.

Martin Meyers
Secretary, NBRC
email: NevadaBirdRecords --at-- GBBO.ORG

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