Yellow Rail Bushwacking

Oh, how I am delighting in sharing this story! Last weekend I had the TREMENDOUS pleasure of joining the St. Louis Audubon Society in a hunt for the Yellow Rail. This was the first time I have ever really bushwacked. I mean, I've walked off trail before looking for birds, but this was the first time I ever walked straight through a field, with a "devil may care" attitude. I don't think there is any other way to find Yellow Rails.

A group of about 25 of us, set out at the BK Leach Conservation Area to find the Rails. Several of had been seen the day before, so we were sure we'd be successful in our hunt. The weather was not very encouraging, though. 50 degrees, windy, and overcast. Ugh...pack on the layers!

Getting the line together to scare up the Rails

I was told that I attended on a fortunate day. Many of Missouri's birding "big wigs" were a part of the group, and it was on rare occasion that they were all together for an event. How lucky was I?! I made sure I listened close, and enjoyed my company.

We set out over an open field that was covered with shallow water. Ummm...so we thought. As we progressed in a long, single file line, the water became deeper. And deeper. The next thing I feel is water pouring into my wellies. FREEZING cold water. I had this moment of "Can I do this? This is crazy." It was so cold, but I shook it off and had a good laugh about the situation.

This photo of me pouring water out of my wellies is courtesy of photographer Al Smith.

The water never really got any more shallow, so we just trudged through with heavy boots, hoping to scare up those rails. Several people "bit it" and ended up wet, head to toe. Not good to be wet in 50 degree weather. I felt really bad for them. But we kept going for over two hours.

New friend Linda and I taking a break

Well, am very sorry to report that we never did find those Yellow Rails. BUM! But we did see many Soras and American Bitterns, which was a new species for me. They attributed the lack of Rails to the depth of water. It was almost a foot deep, which is a bit too deep for Rails. Oh well, had a hoot of a time trying!

I ended up with five new species this morning.

• American Bittern
• Tree Swallow
• Sedge Wren
• Nelson's Sparrow (recently the Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow)
• Eastern Meadowlark