Yes Santa Claus, There Is A Virginia Rail

["Pomera M. Fronce" <pinkstring at xmission dot com>]

Holiday Greetings -

Jack Clark and I took a walk along the Jordan River today.  We traveled 
the route that goes north from 6400 South.  I think this is technically 
called Winchester Street, but for those of us who grew up in Murray it's 
6400 South.

The first bird we laid eyes on right near the parking lot was a 
beautiful male Common Goldeneye and then along came three females and a 
first winter male.  A female Lesser Scaup and a Pied-billed Grebe joined 
the mix.  This is the first time I have seen ducks other than Mallards 
on this stretch of the river.

We proceeded north and just as we began to cross the bridge, we heard 
the sound of a Virginia Rail.  We found it on the west side of the river 
just north of the bridge.  It called loudly for about five minutes and 
gave us some very beautiful looks when it stepped away from the heavy 
brush along the bank and into the sunlight.  A second rail was heard at 
the little wetlands pond just as you cross the bridge to the east.  We 
did not get a visual on this bird.

Santa came a little early this year!

Pomera
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