My original plan for Monday, the last day of my four day high tide quest for rails, was to drive up to Waldo's Dyke in Pt. Reyes National Seashore, a reliable place for Black Rails during extreme high tides. The tide forcast for Pt. Reyes Monday was the same as Sunday, 6.3 feet, not very high. Also other birders had reported seeing no Black Rails on Sunday at Waldo. So I decided against it and chose to return to Ravenswood again hoping and praying the whole time that the PG&E workers would not be there. Hallelujah! I arrived around 9:15 AM and I was the only person present-- my favorite kind of birding. High tide was 10:47 AM and was to be a huge 10.4 feet same as Sunday. While waiting for the tide to roll in I took a bike path on the south side of Ravenswood. I had not noticed this path the two previous days, probably due to the workers' truck blocking it from my view. I walked it south until it came to a trail intersection with a trail into Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I looked further south with my binoculars and could see that it went all the way to the bridge we had crossed as the sun was setting on our San Mateo County Big Day. I did not realize that the two were connected.
There were not many birds of interest on this section, just WESTERN MEADOWLARK, WHITE-CROWNED and GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS and MOURNING DOVES. I heard a LINCOLN'S SPARROW give its buzz. I walked back to the marsh and looked into the tule reeds and there was that same CLAPPER RAIL and SORA I had seen on that same clump yesterday right out in the open. The SORA was pumping its tail again. It has white undertail coverts which were very visible when it pumped. They stayed out in the open all the way until absolute high tide. As I was standing looking into the marsh a VIRGINIA RAIL flew into another clump of reeds, a new rail for my total count. There were pretty much the same ducks as the previous days, PINTAILS, SHOVELERS, MALLARDS, WIGEONS, CANVASBACKS and one or two CINNAMON TEALS. The same large row of WILLETS sat on one of the PG&E boardwalks way out in the marsh. A WHITE-TAILED KITE sat perched on a pylon in the Bay and a RED-TAILED HAWK circled overhead. A lonely BLACK-NECKED STILT flew overhead. As the tide came in I decided to try the PG&E boardwalk into the Baylands Nature Preserve. I was nervous because I always think of the story my friend, Ken Archimbault, told me about falling into Tomales Bay after everyone left from looking for rails. It is a rickety boardwalk just barely above the high tide mark. I started out into the pickleweed and almost immediately I could see a CLAPPER RAIL on the boardwalk about 20 yards ahead. I pulled out my camera to get some video and continued to walk toward it to get a better view. As I walked further down the boardwalk, I flushed another CLAPPER RAIL. This one had been right under the boardwalk and it was furious. I have never heard the vocalizations this bird was making. It scared me. I walked on and then a distinctly black small rail with a slightly charcoal gray trailing edge to the wing flew up and away. I just barely had time to get my bins on it and identify it clearly as my first ever, BLACK RAIL! I saw two more CLAPPER RAILS but never could refind the Black Rail. I walked up and down the boardwalk three more times and saw many COMMON YELLOWTHROATS and MARSH WRENS but no Black Rail. I filmed the CLAPPER RAILS and searched and searched the pickleweed but could only find SONG SPARROWS and MARSH WRENS. When the tide started to turn and lunch time approached I decided to return to the Ravenswood Marsh. RING-BILLED GULLS had begun to circle the PG&E Marsh (Baylands). A flock of CANADA GEESE flew overhead as I returned to the Ravenswood Marsh. I had my lunch on a bench facing Ravenswood and the Dumbarton Bridge in the distance. It was a bright sunny day, about 67 degrees, perfect weather and not a sole in sight, just tons of ducks, and rails crawling around unseen in the mysterious marsh. I can't wait to come back again.
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