[mou] Yellow Rail at Four Brooks Management Area

[Becky Hylton]

I practically stumbled over a Yellow Rail on Friday night.  We had just 
gotten skunked trying to catch Woodcocks at Four Brooks Management Area, and 
I had just closed my last mist net.  I took a wrong turn heading back to the 
road, heading out on one of the narrow trails that's immersed from all the 
recent rains.  Just as I was checking out the too-deep trail with my 
flashlight, I spotted a squat little bird just 2 meters in front of me that 
seemed to be sitting in a few inches of water.  It took me a few seconds to 
realize exactly what I was looking at, and then I couldn't believe my luck.  
With the light played directly on it, the bird stood still for almost a 
minute and a half, moving slowly every time my feet rustled in the sedge as 
I tried to creep closer.  I got amazing looks at all sides of it as it 
slowly shifted around trying to figure out how to respond to the bright 
light in its eyes and light rustling it heard.  Finally it made a run for it 
and moved back away from me and flushed into the denser sedge by the trail.

I got great looks at its stubby yellow bill, buffy chest and facial 
markings, dark barring on the flanks, and buffy streaked back.  I didn't get 
to see the white wing patches very well as it was turned towards me when it 
flushed , but I was extremely pleased.  I was also happy my coworkers didn't 
get to see the Yellow Rail dance I did immediately after.  I looked for it 
again last night, but no luck.  We've been catching some Sora in the nets 
around there as well (accidental bycatch), so I'll be keeping my eyes peeled 
for rails in general.

Four Brooks is a fairly new Wildlife Management Area just south of Onamia in 
Mille Lacs County along the west side of Route 169.  The bird was located 
along the south side of the main road into the WMA in one of the denser 
patches of sedge.  If you check out this area, watch out for all the dopey 
chukars the dog-trialers release in the area for training their dogs.  You 
can often get within a couple feet of them before they amble on their way.  
There are lots of sedge wrens in the area as well.

Cheers,
Becky Hylton

PS.  I've also been impressed with the diversity of passerines I've seen in 
the nearby Mille Lacs WMA, where we also work.  Over the past 6 weeks that 
I've been here, I've seen 4 species of vireos and 17 species of warblers.  
The golden-winged and chestnut sided warblers still seem to be around in 
large numbers.  I'm not familiar enough with this area to know when 
individual species start migrating, so haven't posted before now.  I usually 
come across large foraging flocks every day as I'm out tracking Woodcocks.

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