[texbirds] Re: Yellow Rail on SPI

  • From: MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx
  • To: jarvin@xxxxxxxx, texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 07:52:33 -0400 (EDT)

Hi, John!  Alice made a sketch, and we were talking about possibly  getting 
that scanned and off to the right people.  Thanks for the  feedback!  More 
later,
 
MB
 
 
In a message dated 4/2/2013 4:19:08 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
jarvin@xxxxxxxx writes:
Hi Mary  Beth,
Perhaps. But so far there has never been a verified sighting of  Yellow 
Rail south of the coastal bend (more or less Aransas County). I know  there 
have been other anecdotal reports like this one at that site - and this  sounds 
like one of the better ones-  but the fact remains there is almost  zero 
habitat suitable for Yellow Rail at that location. Perhaps, if one  invasions 
a migrant from farther south (where?) then the available habitat is  good 
enough. Who knows? Not to squash a potentially important record, but  .........
jca

John C. Arvin
Research Associate
Gulf Coast Bird Observatory
103  West Hwy 332
Lake Jackson, TX  77566
jarvin@xxxxxxxx
www.gcbo.org

Austin,  Texas


 
____________________________________
From: MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx
Sent: Monday,  April 01, 2013 6:32 PM
To:  texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [texbirds] Yellow Rail on  SPI

Hi, all,

Apologies for not being able to get this out  sooner, but I received a 
report from a long-time San Diego birder friend  who is here for spring 
migration 
of a Yellow Rail she had from the  Convention Centre boardwalk on Saturday; 
her description  follows:

"The bird caught my eye because it looked daintier than a Sora  and was an 
over all tannish color. It had strong, distinct black stripe  patterns on 
it's back, with white and tan borders. The legs looked silver  grey with 
greenish yellow undertone. It stayed out feeding in a small  puddle along 
the boardwalk for about 1/2 hour to 45 min. It had an overall  
tannish/buff/yellow color, and the strong pattern on the back was very  
noticeable, even 
with the naked eye. It also had some black at the base of  bill, extending 
out to eye also, dark scalloping on the tan background  along his 
flank/lower 
belly area. I was probably 10-15 feet away from the  bird. I also looked at 
it with my field glasses (10 x 42 Leicas). I did a  little sketch, since I 
don't carry a camera. It looked like a mature bird,  one of it's wing 
feathers, white, had been damaged and was hanging out at  a weird angle. We 
had 
been through about three days of nearly constant  strong north winds, and 
so I assumed that it had managed to fly in on this  wind and that was why 
the wing had the feather hanging out, and why the  bird didn't notice me, 
but 
just kept on feeding frantically. I have seen  lots of Sora's since coming 
to the Island in the spring for 10 years or  so, and this bird was 
dramatically different. Very attractive bird. One of  the few times that I 
wished 
I had been carrying a camera."

She was  unable to find the bird later, but that doesn't mean it's not 
still  
around. If anyone is interested in more details you can contact Alice  
directly at debolta@xxxxxxx. 
Mary Beth Stowe
McAllen,  TX
_www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/)  



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