Features: The Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) is seldom seen, as it lives deep in the reeds and marshes of shallow wetlands. In the breeding season, males can be heard giving their distinct clicking sounds which sound like two stones being banged together. Birdwatchers will use pebbles to imitate the call and attract rails out to the edge of the reeds where they can be briefly observed. In early fall, prior to migration, the birds are flightless for two weeks when they moult all their wing feathers and grow in new, stronger ones in preparation for the long southward flight to the Gulf of Mexico. On the wintering grounds, Yellow Rails live in coastal marshes, such as the Aransas Refuge in Texas, where they share the habitat with another rare species, the Whooping Crane.

Status: Special Concern Provincially and Nationally

Range: The Yellow Rail ranges across much of central Canada and parts of the northern United States. It winters along the Gulf of Mexico. In Ontario, it is mainly found in the Hudson Bay Lowlands region, and is only found in localized marshes in southern Ontario. Biologists estimate there may be 10,000 Yellow Rails today. Range Maps

Threats: Yellow Rail populations declined in southern Ontario as wetlands were drained for urban development and agriculture. Expanding Snow Goose populations in the Hudson Bay Lowlands may be destroying habitat. The Yellow Rail has not benefited from the wetlands restoration for waterfowl, as it prefers shallow marshes rather than open waters.

Protection: There is no formal protection for this species in Ontario. Some sites in Ontario are in conservation areas and provincial parks, which give the species some habitat protection.

Text Sources: Alvo and Robert 1999

Last Modified Date: February 2005