rallus (rail) limicola (mud dweller)
Saturday, May 8, 1982 — 9:10 am
Waukegan, Illinois — Waukegan Public Beach
I finished looking at my lifer Warbling Vireo just moments before. I walked about twenty feet further along the edge of the tiny marsh on the dunes about 50 yards back from Lake Michigan. I saw a flash of rufous tail disappear under a clump of reeds. I stood still until a Virginia Rail came out and began foraging. Much of the time it was out of sight behind reeds. I would get a brief glimpse of a head, a tail or a belly. The entire bird was in sight only twice for a few seconds each time. I was approximately eight feet away.