Yesterday (April 9) I drove four hours to Clinton, Illinois and spent the night in order to participate in today's "Yellow Rail Search" sponsored by the Illinois Ornithological Society. The Yellow Rail is one of the most difficult birds to see in North America due to its small size and secretive nature. I had participated in the search last year but struck out. Even though I knew the odds of getting to see the Yellow Rail this time were again slim, I went anyway, because it would be a lifer and my 300th Illinois bird.
About 30 of us participants formed a skirmish line and systematically swept across the wet field to try to flush the tiny rail. After going back and forth several times, we pretty much gave up hope on seeing the rail, especially since we only saw one Sora and no Virginia Rails (both of which were numerous last year). Therefore, we went to an adjacent drier field to look for Le Conte's Sparrow. As we were trying to surround one of the sparrows, someone flushed a Yellow Rail! The group surrounded the patch of grass where it landed and closed the circle. We all got great looks as the rail was flushed from the grass. It was only inches from us, and at one point it even ran across the back of my boot as I was kneeling. An excellent bird to get!
Afterward, we went to a different area to look for Smith's Longspurs, but were unsuccessful. It didn't matter to me, since I finally got the Yellow Rail. In addition to that, I also got six new year birds. A list of birds seen (including those seen driving to and from Clinton) includes:
01. Canada Goose
02. Mallard
03. Lesser Scaup
04. Great Blue Heron
05. Turkey Vulture
06. Northern Harrier
07. Cooper's Hawk
08. Red-tailed Hawk
09. American Kestrel
10. YELLOW RAIL (716th life bird, 571st North America bird, 300th Illinois bird, 116th year bird)
11. Sora (117th year bird)
12. American Coot
13. Killdeer
14. Greater Yellowlegs
15. Wilson's Snipe
16. Bonaparte's Gull
17. Rock Pigeon
18. Mourning Dove
19. Belted Kingfisher
20. Downy Woodpecker
21. Northern Flicker
22. Eastern Phoebe
23. Blue Jay
24. American Crow
25. Horned Lark
26. Purple Martin (118th year bird)
27. Tree Swallow
28. Barn Swallow (119th year bird)
29. Black-capped Chickadee (120th year bird)
30. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
31. American Robin
32. Brown Thrasher
33. European Starling
34. Yellow-rumped Warbler
35. Vesper Sparrow (121st year bird)
36. Le Conte's Sparrow (122nd year bird)
37. Song Sparrow
38. Swamp Sparrow
39. White-throated Sparrow
40. Northern Cardinal
41. Red-winged Blackbird
42. Eastern Meadowlark
43. Common Grackle
44. Brown-headed Cowbird
45. House Sparrow
Posted by Birdingdave at April 10, 2004 10:43 PM
congrats on the rail!!! must be one of the harder ABA birds to see - sounds like you got superb views too.
Posted by: andy at April 11, 2004 02:54 AMbirdingdave,
Congratulations on the rail in Illinois! Finding Yellow Rails in Indiana has become a passion of mine over the years, and I've found a few, but have never had good looks at one on the ground.
I was wondering if you have met any other Indiana birders or had considered posting your sightings on our state listserv IN-BIRD?
Please e-mail me.
Best,
Jeff