Yellow Rail

Calls from Lisa Fosco of the Ohio Wildlife Center are always exciting. This is one of the higher volume rehab places in the state, and they sometimes get in some very interesting birds. You may remember that Lisa and the center took in a Yellow Rail that had been injured in Licking County about this time last year.

Well, Lisa rang me up the other day to report they had received yet another Yellow Rail. This one apparently hit a window, and was found dazed and confused in a Columbus shopping center on October 12th. While few Ohio birders have this one on their state list, Yellow Rails are more common in migration than generally believed, no doubt, but it's a shame when one turns up like this. The bird is still quite alive and very frisky, but successfully working with high-strung animals like this is challenging and not always successful. I commend Lisa and the center for their efforts; for instance, the rail must regularly be force-fed as it won't feed itself, and other high-maintenance steps must be taken to try to rehabilitate it.

A beautiful Yellow Rail. It has an injured wing, and that'll be a difficult injury to heal successfully and get the bird back in the wild. We'll see how it goes with this one.