Yellow Rail
Yellow Rail
Coturnicops noveboracensis
At a Glance
One of the most secretive birds in North America, almost never seen under normal conditions, although its metallic clicking calls may echo across the northern prairie marshes on summer nights. Rarely flies in the daytime except under extreme pressure. Somewhat erratic in occurrence on the breeding grounds: may be common at a given locale in wet years, scarce or absent in dry years.
All bird guide text and rangemaps adapted from Lives of North American Birds by Kenn Kaufman© 1996, used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Category
Chicken-like Marsh Birds, Rails, Gallinules, Coots
IUCN Status
Least Concern
Habitat
Fields, Meadows, and Grasslands, Freshwater Wetlands
Region
California, Eastern Canada, Florida, Great Lakes, Mid Atlantic, New England, Northwest, Plains, Southeast, Texas, Western Canada
Behavior
Flushes, Running, Swimming
Population
12.000
Range & Identification
Migration & Range Maps
Migrates at night. Very rarely detected in migration, but individuals sometimes found when they stop over in city parks or other spots with little cover. Migrates south mostly in September and October, north mostly in April and early May.
Description
6-8" (15-20 cm). Small and short-billed; dark above, buffy below. Suggests juvenile Sora but smaller, blacker above, with narrow white bars on back. In flight, shows white patch on inner part of wing (unlike other rails).
Size
About the size of a Robin, About the size of a Sparrow
Color
Black, Brown, White, Yellow
Wing Shape
Broad, Rounded
Tail Shape
Short
Songs and Calls
2 or 3 clicks, sounding like pebbles being tapped together, repeated over and over in a long series. Usually heard at night.
Call Pattern
Flat
Call Type
Chirp/Chip, Odd, Rattle, Whistle
Habitat
Grassy marshes, meadows. In summer, favors large wet meadows or shallow marshes dominated by sedges and grasses. Typically in fresh or brackish marsh with water no more than a foot deep. In winter mostly in coastal salt marsh, especially drier areas with dense stands of spartina; also rice fields, damp meadows near coast.
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Behavior
Eggs
Usually 8-10. Buffy white, with reddish brown spots around larger end. Incubation is apparently by female only, about 17-18 days. Male may remain near nest during incubation.
Young
Apparently fed by female only. Remain in nest only about 2 days, then follow female about in marsh. When not foraging, female and brood go to second nest (not the one in which the eggs hatched). Young find much of their own food after 2 weeks, all of it after 3 weeks; probably able to fly at about 5 weeks.
Feeding Behavior
Foraging of wild birds essentially unknown. Yellow Rails in captivity feed only by day, picking food from ground, plants, or water.
Diet
Mostly insects, snails, seeds. Diet not well known, but small freshwater snails reported to be important at some seasons. Eats a wide variety of insects (especially aquatic ones), also spiders, small crustaceans, probably earthworms. Also eats many seeds, at least in fall and winter.
Nesting
Male defends territory by calling, mostly at night. In courtship, male and female may preen each other's feathers. Nest site is in shallow part of marsh, on damp soil or over water less than 6" deep. Nest is shallow cup of sedges and grasses, with concealing canopy of dead plants above it. May build more than one nest, with extra(s) being used for brooding the chicks after they leave their hatching nest. Male takes part in starting nests, but female completes the work.
Conservation
Conservation Status
Undoubtedly has declined in this century, especially at southern end of breeding range, because of loss of habitat. Localized race in central Mexico is probably endangered if not extinct.
Climate Threats Facing the Yellow Rail
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.