These small, elusive birds resemble young chickens.  Yellow Rails average 15-19 centimetres in length.  They have short, pointed beaks and are buff coloured with black and white markings and light eyebrows.  A white wing patch is visible in flight.  The Yellow Rail is much sought after by birdwatchers.

Distribution

Yellow Rails occur only in North America, primarily in Canada and the northern United States, with very limited distribution in northern Mexico.  Their main breeding grounds in Canada are on James Bay and western Hudson Bay.  There are also limited breeding grounds in the southern and central parts of the prairie provinces and the St. Lawrence Seaway.  In the NWT, Yellow Rails are found in the Slave River lowlands.  Yellow Rails migrate to the southern United States every winter.  They spend the winter along the Gulf Coast of Florida and the eastern seaboard up to the Carolinas.

NOTE: Click on map for full view. Distributions are approximate and not intended for legal use. (JPG = 1995 KB)

Population Size and Trends

There is no accurate count of Yellow Rail populations.  Estimates put the total number of breeding pairs found outside Hudson Bay and James Bay at 2,500.  The breeding population for Hudson Bay and James Bay is estimated at a few thousand pairs.  The population on the Slave River lowlands is estimated at between 20-100 breeding pairs. There is almost no direct information about population trends. It is known, however, that their habitat is disappearing at an alarming rate, which leads biologists to believe Yellow Rails are also disappearing.

Yellow Rails prefer moist areas, with little or no standing water.  Their preferred summer habitat includes marshy areas with low ground cover, grassy flood plains, wet meadows, and bog areas with low vegetation.  During migration, they stop over in rice fields, dry hay fields or cereal fields.  In winter, the birds can be found in coastal marshes and rice fields.

Yellow Rails probably begin breeding in their first year.  The mating call of the male is a ticking sound, like two pebbles being struck together.  The female usually lays 7-10 eggs.  Egg success is very high and most of the eggs hatch. Males take no part in incubating or brooding the eggs.  Males form territories that they defend from other males, but they have very poor links to their breeding territories and usually only use a territory once.  Male territories average about eight hectares in size.  Female territories are smaller, about 1-2 hectares in size. This size difference means more than one female may be found within a male's territory.  Yellow Rails begin their migration north at the end of April or the beginning of May.  Fall migration begins in late September or early October. They migrate in groups, at night, flying in a broad front across the continent.  Yellow Rails feed mainly on insects, shellfish and seeds that they forage from the ground and shallow water.

Destruction of wetlands is the greatest threat to the Yellow Rail.  With the draining of up to 40 per cent of prairie marshes and swamps, valuable habitat for Yellow Rails has disappeared.  Another factor is the limited size of their wintering grounds in the southern United States.  The wintering grounds are only about 7 per cent the size of the breeding grounds.  Recently, snow geese have also caused problems for Yellow Rails.  Snow goose populations have increased dramatically since they began foraging on prairie grain fields.  The Hudson Bay and James Bay wetlands are unable to sustain the increased snow geese numbers.  Swamps and marshes are being degraded.  This destruction of habitat may lead to a decline in Yellow Rail numbers in their last stronghold.

Yellow Rails are protected from hunting in all Canadian provinces and territories, except Ontario and the Yukon.  In the NWT, they are protected as a non-game bird under the Wildlife Act.  In 1999, COSEWIC designated the Yellow Rail as Vulnerable because of their limited wintering range and the pressures on their summer habitat in Canada.

Since Yellow Rails have just recently been designated as Vulnerable, no recovery plans or research projects have yet been implemented on the territorial or national level.

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       Site last updated Tuesday, November 04, 2008