Peter Waanders wrote:
This morning I went to two sites along the last stretch of the River Murray
in SA where Lewin's Rail were recorded during a survey I commissioned
earlier this year. I played the call and at one site got a response which
I'm seeking your feedback on. Unlike the call on the tape it sounded like a
pig grunting, but neither as low-pitched as a pig's grunt, nor as
high-pitched as a squeal. The calls were about 1 -1.5 seconds in duration,
with a few seconds interval in between, it went on for perhaps a minute or
more.
Is this one of the lesser-described calls of the Lewin's Rail? Or something
completely different? Unfortunately I did not get any views of the bird.
Hi Peter
We're currently developing and testing a call playback survey
methodology for Lewin's Rail in greater Melbourne (Victoria,
Australia), and the kind of response you describe agrees with some of
the responses from birds we've had. We're quite satisfied that Lewin's
Rail is responding to the limited call repertoire of the recordings
with a few extra, as yet unrecorded, variations. Getting a look at
them when they come in to recorded calls is usually a site specific
thing - ie. somewhere they can come out of the dense veg and be seen,
like exposed mud, etc.
L.
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Lawrie Conole
GradCertOrnith MEIANZ
Principal Zoologist
Ecology Australia Pty. Ltd.
Flora and Fauna Consultants
88B Station Street
FAIRFIELD VIC 3078 Australia
E-mail: lconole [at] ecologyaustralia.com.au
Internet: http://www.ecologyaustralia.com.au/
Ph: (03) 9489 4191; Mob: (0419) 588 993
Fax: (03) 9481 7679
ABN 83 006 757 142
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