Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) | Photos, Calls and ID

LCLeast ConcernInvertebrates

WetlandCup nestMedium · 61 g

Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis), photo 2 — Photo: Konshau Duman · CC BY 4.0

Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis), photo 3 — Photo: Nathan May · CC BY 4.0

Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis), photo 4 — Photo: Nathan May · CC BY 4.0

Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis), photo 5 — Photo: Brandon Johnson · CC BY 4.0

Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis), photo 6 — Photo: Brandon Johnson · CC BY 4.0

What the Yellow Rail sounds like

Sonogram of the Yellow Rail: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.

Recorded by Justin Watts · Call · McGregor Marsh, Aitkin Co., Minnesota, United States · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

Recorded by Peter Wilton · Song · Swamp Lake, Leech Lake Township (near Walker), Cass County, Minnesota, United States · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

Adults have brown upperparts streaked with black, a yellowish-brown breast, a light belly and barred flanks. The short thick dark bill turns yellow in males during the breeding season. The feathers on the back are edged with white. There is a yellow-brown band over the eye and the legs are greenish-yellow. The birds measure 16–19 cm (6.3–7.5 in) in overall length; males have an average weight of 59 g (2.1 oz), females an average weight of 52 g (1.8 oz).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Yellow Rail

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 7 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is July, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Yellow Rail

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 2 countries with regular records, and 2 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

United States Canada

Recorded as a rare visitor in Bermuda, St. Pierre & Miquelon.

About the Yellow Rail

The yellow rail is a small secretive marsh bird of the family Rallidae that is found in North America.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Swinhoe's RailCoturnicops exquisitusSwinhoe's rail is a species of bird in the family Rallidae occurring in northeastern Asia.

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