[mou] Yellow Rails-Morrison County

[Benjamin Fritchman]

Yesterday afternoon(June 4th) I drove a loop around western Morrison County 
looking for Yellow Rail habitat. I ended up making 12 marks on my map where 
I found suitable habitat. At 10 P.M. I went back out and checked every place 
I had noted on my map. The first 11 stops resulted in 1 Marsh Wren and 43 
Sedge Wrens, but no Rails. It was midnight when I finally arrived at my last 
stop, and I almost didn't stop because I was tired and I was almost home, 
plus I hadn't heard much all night. I ended up stopping, and I turned my car 
off. I grabbed two stones and clicked them together, and within seconds 
Yellow Rails were calling back. There were at least 2 Yellow Rails, with a 
possible 3rd. Also, when I first got out of my vehicle, I thought I heard a 
Sharp-tailed Sparrow, but the entire 30 minutes I spent there, I never heard 
it again. There was a LeConte's Sparrow off in the distance singing the 
entire time I spent there, so the bird I thought was a Sharp-tailed at first 
may well have been the LeConte's.

The location is in western Morrison County. The Rails were on Hwy. 27 that 
runs between Long Prairie and Little Falls. They were located 0.4 miles east 
of the Todd County line. There is a valley here that is quite big, and one 
bird was on the north side, and one or two were on the south side of Hwy. 
27.

Ben Fritchman