Ed,

A couple of questions about the location of the dead Virginia Rail:
Exactly where (which street) did you find it?
Are there power lines nearby it could have collided with?
Why an Osprey? I would suspect a Peregrine Falcon first.
What time of day? Could the rail have been there since night time?
If I'm not mistaken we had overcast conditions last night in the Seattle area. On overcast nights city lights reflect enough light for peregrines to hunt by. Don't rails, like other not-so-excellent fliers migrate by night?

I've seen peregrines hit pigeons in mid air at the end of a stoop and drop the pigeon. At the time I was imagining a person walking along a Lower Queen Ann sidewalk being startled by a dead pigeon dropping from the sky.....

Martin Muller, Seattle
martinmuller at msn.com<mailto:martinmuller at msn.com>
----- Original Message -----
From: newboldwildlife at netscape.net<mailto:newboldwildlife at netscape.net>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu<mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 10:55 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] What does dead V. Rail on Beacon Hill mean?


Hi All,

I have a question for tweeterdom: What explains the following?

I was driving two blocks from my house on residential Beacon Hill when I saw a dead bird on the road which my mind tried to make a Robin. When I backed up to see what was going on, I found a fully intact but very dead adult Virginia Rail.

I was still kind of bummed and shocked but more befuddled when I got home and Delia suggested that maybe something had dropped it.

Does this indicate Osprey around here are hunting Virginia Rail? What else would both commute that far and also possibly lose an aerial dogfight with the local Crows, (if an Eagle challenged the Osprey it would have caught the prey item in the air) and we have an Osprey nest just north of the Brewery. Or am I completely missing what really caused a dead Rail to be lying in the street far from any Rail habitat?

(On a completely different subject, the first YardBirdRace press releases are going out tomorrow, and golly the YBR is getting exciting! MAXINE REID?s entry from Warm Beach with Trumpeter Swan among others tightens the race in the overall category into an 88-87 race with CAROLYN EAGAN of Port Ludlow holding onto the lead. Other headlines include ?MCWETHY tops close King County race with MARAZZO/HOFMAN leading in Seattle? .

Also, a new prize choice is being added, along with the year sub to WA Birder which some already have and the VG Swallow nest box: a few 1 year-subs to BirdLife International, one of the coolest organizations, and one of the neatest magazines, anywhere.)

Ed Newbold, residential Beacon Hill, newboldwildlife at netscape.net<mailto:newboldwildlife at netscape.net>





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