claps and hums

Clapper Rail now calling at the opposite end of the marsh behind a stand of Pragmites (probably from the small creek channel that flows into the marsh). A rail has been calling on our marsh since early May and with considerable regularity for the past three weeks or so. Don't know if this was always the same bird but certainly the June caller was a single rail, probably a very determined but mateless male who has taken possession of the marsh but has been unable to attract a female. Unless (?) he is defending a hidden nest somewhere in the muck and mire where I never go (I can make it a ways into the marsh at low tide, far enough to peer into the open water in the middle where I often see rails but not to the farther reaches). Last year there were two rails on the marsh at one point but I never saw any evidence of breeding.

A hummingbird -- presumably a Ruby-throat -- was hovering around the house this morning. If there's a nest this year I haven't been able to find it. Last year's hummers
nested (successfully) in July so perhaps there's time yet.

Eric Salzman