Robert DeCandido and I spent some time today tracking down as much of the original historical information on the occurrence of the Corn Crake in our area...primarily NY State Records. They are provided, with citations below.
Here is a link to an adult female Corn Crake photographed while we were banding birds in Israel in 2003: https://www.photo.net/photo/1424996 Historical Info from the period 1880-2012: ======================================= CORN CRAKE Crex crex. In the shop of Messrs. Lucau & Buck, of Sag Harbor, I found a mounted specimen of this species which I purchased. They bought it about August 15, 1885 while in the flesh, from a farmer residing near Amagansett, Suffolk Co. It was, when shot, on an upland or dry meadow, in company with some Meadow Larks (Sturnella magna). The sex was not ascertained. Bird Notes from Long Island by William Dutcher Auk 3 (No. 4): 432-444 (Excerpts) - October-December 1886 =============================================== Crex crex. Corn Crake. -- Since my previous record of this bird on Long Island, I have had a mounted specimen presented to me by Mr. A. A. Fraser, who "bagged the bird, 2 November 1880. It was at the foot of the uplands, where they join the meadows, in heavy cover, with springs running from it." Auk 5 (2): 177 (April-June 1888) excerpt BIRD NOTES FROM LONG ISLAND, N. Y. BY WILLIAM DUTCHER. ================================ 12. Corn Crake Crex crex. Capt. Scott gave me the greater portion of the skin of one of these birds, that had been shot by a boy about 1 Nov 1888 while shooting quail. It was secured on a low marshy meadow about three miles west of the point, near the Conklin farm house. This is the third specimen of this species that I have in my collection from Long Island. For previous records see The Auk, Vol. III., p. 435, and Vol. V., p.177. In the Ornithologist and Oologist Vol. XIIL, p. 46, a specimen is recorded from Connecticut. The number of records of this species from the middle Eastern Atlantic Coast would seem to indicate that Crex would soon have to be removed from the list of stragglers and placed among the rare class. William Dutcher A Winter Trip to Montauk (excerpt) Forest and Stream 34(11): 206-207 (3 April 1890) excerpt. =============================== Crex crex in Maine [1896]. The occurrence of Crex crex near Portland, Me., was noted in an editorial paragraph of the 'Ornithologist and Oologist,' Vol. XV, p. 30, as follows: "H. II. Brock reports a specimen of the European Corn Crake (Crex crex) killed by John Whiting in Falmouth, Me., about four miles from Portland. Another was shot at the same time, but was so mutilated that it was thrown away." I feel that the importance of this capture demands a more detailed statement, especially in view of the fact that the above notice seems to have been often overlooked. The bird is an unquestionable Crex crex in extremely fine plumage and of typical coloration. It not only agrees closely with printed descriptions, hut with the several European specimens with which I have compared it. The date of its capture was 14 October 1889, and the locality the Dyke Marsh in Falmouth, where so many other rare waders have been taken. It was shot by Mr. John Whitney, -- not "Whiting." It came into my hands at once, was preserved by myself, and is now in my collection. Great importance should not, of course, be attached to the closing sentence of the paragraph above quoted, which was based on the statements of a gunner not skilled in identifying birds, though undoubtedly truthful. -- HENRY H. BROCK, Portland, Me. AUK 13(2): 173-174 (April-June 1896) =========================================================== The Corn Crake in Connecticut [1887]. BY HON. JOHN N. CLARK, SAYBROOK, CONN. In looking over a Check List made from the A. O. U. Code I find the names of fifty-one species or varieties of birds enclosed in brackets, and upon investigation discovered by Rule 3 "that stragglers or accidental visitors not regarded as components of the North American fauna were to be distinguished by having their respective numbers in brackets," so that these fifty-one species are regarded as stragglers or accidental visitors, and every capture of one of them by an ornithologist is regarded as an interesting event to be triumphantly recorded for publication. But how few such triumphs are there in the records! Probably but a small portion of such captures fall to the lot of the ornithological student. Seventy-five in a hundred of the sportsmen would dress the rare bird for the pot, with the common ones, and discuss its flesh instead of its plumage. Yet such a triumph has been mine; the first specimen of all that list of stragglers fell into my hands on the 20th of October [1887] last a Corn Crake (Crex crex), a bird about the size and appearance (if not examined too closely) of a Woodcock, aside from the beak, which latter more nearly resembles that of the domestic fowl. Reddish tints predominate, especially on the wings, and a more critical examination reveals the somewhat flattened form peculiar to the Rallidae. It was a male, apparently fully mature in size and plumage, and was found in such a place as one would be likely to look at that season for Woodcock a swamp thicket at the head of a marsh, the source of a small stream winding some two miles through salt meadows to its outlet into Long Island Sound. Whence came this bird, and whither was it going? Are there others and have they a breeding ground in our county? Questions without solution are only conjecture. It would be interesting to me if someone acquainted with the habits of the species would present them at length. All the information I have been able to gather is comprehended in the brief "accidental on our coast." If a single specimen establishes the status of a species then the List of the fauna of Connecticut is increased by one. [The Corn Crake (Crex pratensis until lately, when Linnaeus's name has been adopted by the A. O. C. nomenclature, and we now have Crex crex), is quite a common bird in England, where it is found in the meadows and low lands where there is water. It is migratory, and arrives there from the European Continent about April or May. It is of a shy and retiring disposition, and will not fly unless compelled to do so. The nest is constructed of dry grass, on the ground, in meadows, and from seven to ten eggs are laid. Their ground color varies from ecru drab to fawn, and they are spotted and blotched quite heavily with cinnamon and russet. There are also a few spots of purplish-gray. They measure 1.41 x 1.07 and larger, and the spots have a tendency to run lengthwise on the eggs. Specimens of this bird have been taken in Greenland, Long Island, New Jersey, and the Bermudas, and now Judge Clark has added Connecticut to these localities. It therefore has a far better claim to be included in our North American fauna than many other birds who have been admitted on the strength of a single specimen having been taken here. J. P. N.] Ornithologist and Oologist 13(3): 45-46 (March 1888) ================================ Another Corn Crake Record for Long Island. On 2 November 1963, a Corn Crake, Crex crex, was shot in Orient, Long Island by a pheasant hunter. The bird was shot on the ground at close range with large shot and was badly mutilated but enough of the bird could be preserved for an identification record. The bird, a female, was in a field of young rye 200 yards from salt marshes. 25 Mallaphaga, all one species, were collected from the bird. These lice were determined as Rallicola ertygometrae ertygometrae by K. C. Emerson in the Department of Entomology, Washington, D. C. This apparently is the fourth record of the Corn Crake on Long Island and the fifth for New York State. It is of interest to note that this bird was recorded on the same date, November 2, and that the first record was established for this species on Long Island in 1880, the year of the writer's birth. Ed. note: Although the fifth record for the state, it is the first this century. This decrease of occurrence may be related to the decline of the species in Northern Europe due to the destruction of nests by modern agricultural methods. Roy Latham, Orient, Long Island. KINGBIRD 14(1): 28-29 (Jan-Mar 1964) ==================================================== ABSTRACT [2012]: A juvenile Corncrake Crex crex was photographed on Fernando de Noronha Island [BRAZIL] on 28 November 2012. The reservoir where the bird was found also held two male Pintails Anas acuta, also photographed. Fernando de Noronha is a known locality for vagrants from the Palearctic and/or Africa, Crex crex being an addition to a growing list. The Corncrake Crex crex is a strongly migratory rail with a broad Palearctic breeding range including a broad swathe from coastal north-western Europe to Sinkiang in Western China (Taylor 1998). In those countries Corncrakes inhabit tall pastures and meadows, including hay fields, both dry and wet, with a preference for cooler and damper habitats with dense grass and herb cover 20-50 cm high (Taylor 1998). The conversion of such areas, formerly used for extensive grazing and to produce hay, into intensive, mechanised agriculture has led to a serious decline of the species throughout western Europe (BirdLife International 2004). After the breeding season Corncrakes migrate mostly to eastern Africa (Walther et al. 2012), but there are sparse records covering most of the continent and vagrants have been found in Tibet, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Australia (Bräulich & Rank 1998, Taylor 1998). A few birds sometimes cross the Atlantic, with several records in the eastern seaboard of North America from Newfoundland, New Scotia, St. Pierre et Miquelon, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Bermuda and Greenland (AOU 1998). Here we present the first record of Corncrake for Brazil and South America (cf. SACC 2013). First record of Corncrake Crex crex (Rallidae) for South America Kleber de Burgos and Fábio Olmos Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia, 21(3), 205-208 September 2013 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
