A Dozen Yellow Rails (1 Viewer)

Last night, I had the privilege of assisting with the banding of rails at San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, along the Upper Texas Coast.

A previous evening of banding had netted (pun alert) four Yellows and one Black Rail. Eight or so intrepid souls accompanied a biology graduate student into the nighttime marsh. We were in for an incredible night.

In five hours of serious swamp-flogging, we wound up with an incredible 12 Yellow Rails, one Virginia, and one Sora. Additionally, we flushed several potential Black Rails and another half dozen or so Yellows.

Imagine running through a wet marsh in the dead of night with a spotlight and a net once a bird flushes. You get to it, only to have it dash off again. Another 20 yards of heart-stopping, knee-pumping effort gets you on the bird again, and this time you make a capture.

I was able to hold a Yellow Rail in my hands while another bird was being processed, the bird I had netted myself.

Most of the Yellows we caught were of sufficient weight to be fitted with transmitters. Aaron, the graduate student, would be tracking the birds' movement over the days to follow.

I got home at 2 a.m., sore and tired, but what a night it had been.

Steve in Houston

sounds like quite an evening steve - yellow rail is on my list of birds to try and find this year after managing to miss them last year - black rail would be as well but i think that is a real long shot up here in ct.