ML102078561

Age and sex

Unknown age, Male - X

Media notes

Bright yellow bill in breeding season makes this a male, as females maintain a darker olivaceous bill year round

Observation details

This is a “VS FMO sighting” which stands for very special, found my own! I unexpectedly heard the click-click, click-click-click of two pebbles knocking in mid-afternoon. Thank you to Alan, who upon hearing it himself, insisted we had to get closer. With infinite patience we got so close to this invisible skulker, I feared that taking another step might crush him. Until this fellow popped out like a mouse or a winter wren, just a few feet away for a few seconds, I had no idea that yellow rails either create tunnels beneath the sedge mat or use tunnels created by small mammals. He took one look at us and disappeared. We retreated, appreciating the great honor bestowed upon us—a sighting in broad daylight. Let Alan’s words take over: Hearing yellow rails on territory can be done. Seeing a yellow rail is a bit of a feat. But photographing a free yellow rail is an experience onto itself. Maggie has ears with an exceptionally long reach. "Stop," she says. “I hear a yellow rail clicking." "I can't hear it." "It's out there. Get out of the car and you will." I did. "Wow! How far out do you think it is? " "Oh, where that sedge wren and swamp sparrow are singing." “I don’t care if the grass is crawling with ticks. Let's put on our Neos. Maybe we'll get close enough to see it.“ I didn't bother to take my camera. Who photographs a calling yellow rail? Well, it turned out that the bird kept calling from beneath a mixed matting of emerging spring grass and last year's prostrate sedge. At times it was practically next to our feet. How could I resist? I went back to the car for my camera. I know a thing or two about yellow rails: Over a span of 47 years, I’ve actually seen them as breeders (Michigan), as migrants (New Jersey and Ontario) and as winter birds (Texas and Florida). I preset the camera. “If we see this bird, it’s not going to give much of a chance for a shot. “ Patience is a virtue: we stood stark still, maybe for an hour and went painfully numb from our feet up to our knees. (We're not spring chickens.) The photos testify that the endured pain was more than worth it.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV

Lens

EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4x III

ISO

1600

Focal length

700 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/9.0

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

3985 pixels x 2846 pixels

Original file size

2.42 MB