Yellow Rail

It’s the reason we’re here. The Yellow Rail is pretty much an impossible bird to get here unless you go on a Rail Walk. Not even they guy who leads the walk can get it without going on a rail walk. The Yellow rail lives in deep wet grass. He doesn’t want to fly; he just ducks away through the grass before you ever see him. One person alone can’t flush him. Five times a year, Anahuac Nation Wildlife Refuge sponsors a Yellow Rail walk. It’s more like a tiger hunt than a birding trip. The Rail Walk participants are the beaters. Two in the lead walk through the marsh with a rope strung between them, empty milk jugs with rocks in them tied on the rope. The rest of the people walk spread out in a line behind the rope. Even though the terrain is difficult, the walk has to happen at a brisk pace, or the birds will just scurry away without flying; without being seen. This configuration is supposed to give the rails nowhere else to go, so they fly and we get to see them. That’s how it’s supposed to work. Today was the first day of the season for rail walks. We marched through the field, dragging milk jugs with rocks in them, until we couldn’t go any more. No Rails. It was a valiant effort. We got Seaside Sparrows and Sedge Wrens, but no Yellow Rail. Here is a Snowy Egret with his breeding face on. And a Red-tailed Hawk fairly close up.

The Yellow Rail remains a challenge for another day.