After attending graduation ceremonies for a friend at Hocking College yesterday, I headed to Charlie's Pond to see/hear the Black Rail(s). I got there around 4:45 p.m. to find Dave English, a Cleveland birder with the same plan. Three hours of silence followed in the 90 degree plus heat and humidity. Lauren and Kathy from Cincinnati stopped on their way back from a weekend in Grayling, MI and the Oak Openings. Lauren had heard the rail last Tuesday during the tornado warnngs. Finally, amid the din of the owner's tractor, the wind and blackbird/ swallow vociferations, we heard one weak call from (one of) the rail (s) that Lauren confirmed was what she had heard previously. Hoping the lowering sun and temperatures would spark some more calling, Dave and I waited until after 9 p.m. trying to hear over the still operating (with headlights on) tractor working the field to the north and east of the swale, but to no avail. Jim Glover Northwest Columbus www.jimgloverart.com ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]