sounds in the fog

Who was that guy who was lamenting the disappearance of autumn fogs in the NY Times? He should come out here if wants to see autumn fog. We had a doozy this morning accompanied by warm temperatures with just a slight breeze from the south carrying the amazingly loud sound of the surf through the dense air. 'Sunrise' is late -- after 7 am these days -- but overcast skies and low-lying fog guarantee that no sun will be seen; even the opposite side of the creek was invisible and the trees on the far side of the marsh were merely shadows against the white sky.

Rails prefer the gloom and, since the tide was low, this was a perfect time to look for rails in the marsh. Of course, I couldn't see much and all I could hear was a rhythmic call that didn't sound anything like a rail. Except that it was coming from the marsh. This was mainly a two-note DID-dik, repeated over and over and sometimes with the last part extended. I decided to wait and see if anything would turn up (there wasn't much else to see in the fog) and, sure enough, a medium-sized rail came running across the open area in the middle of the marsh. It was too hard to make it out at first but eventually it came back, working its way along the open edge. By this time, it was light enough to make out the details; it was a Virginia Rail. The Virginia Rail is famous for its 'kicker' call but this was a rhythmic two-note call, DID-dik, sometimes extending into several notes: DID-dik-dik-dik-dik but without the ending part that is usually attributed to the 'kicker'. Although the two-note vocalization is described as an 'alarm call', this bird was anything but alarmed, walking calmly along the edge and dipping in the adjacent pools of water (to drink? to catch insects?). After watching the creature for about 20", another series of DIK-dik calls started up in another part of the marsh not far away. A second bird; my guess is that these are contact rather than alarm calls.

Eventually, the visible rail disappeared into the marsh grass and there were no further calls from either bird. Time to move on. Not that visibility had improved very much. I could identify many birds by sound, notably two or three Ruby-crowned Kinglets plus the usual collection of chinking White-crowned Sparrows, chipping Yellow-rumped Warblers, complaining Robins, etc. One call I could not identify was a low, toneless 'CRWK', apparently coming from flying birds on the creek. This is not the usual call that Royal Terns make in the sunshine but perhaps they somehow use this sound to find their way around in the fog! But perhaps it was something else entirely.

The fog cleared at almost exactly 9:30 and shortly thereafter a large and active feeding flock appeared in the woods led by Chickadees and Titmice but also including at least two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Downy Woodpecker, active and noisy Red-breasted Nuthatches, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. No siskins or goldfinches seen or heard and the 'CRWK' calls were gone but Rocky Raccoon was visible back on his favorite sleeping perch.

Eric Salzman