Road Trip Reports

Yellow Rail Hunt (October 2004)
by Jimmy Woodard  

Max Fuller and I departed Oklahoma City at 3:30 A.M. so we could be at Red Slough by 9:00 A.M., and participate in a search for rails.  

Berlin Heck

We met Berlin and Bucky Heck and Terry Mitchell along Paschal Lane on the west side of the slough.  

We donned our rubber boots and headed out into a grassy, damp field, which held the promise of rails.  Berlin and Terry manned the rope and we began dragging the field.  Almost immediately, we flushed a LeConte's Sparrow and a Sedge Wren.  They both obligingly perched on some bare weedy stems, in plain sight, and at close range.  

We flushed numerous sparrows and wrens as we trudged through the thick mats of grass.  After a few hundred yards, we turned around and headed back toward where we started.  

As we neared our starting point, up popped a Yellow Rail!  It flashed its white wing patches as it fluttered by us at eye level and then dropped into the grass a short way ahead of us. We searched the area for it again, but we could not find it.  

Berlin took us down Blackland Road toward where a pair of Common Ground Doves had been seen.  With the overnight rains, the road was very muddy.  We slid and spun and fishtailed our way to the spot, but found no doves.  Berlin poured seed along the road to entice the birds.  

We drove on over to Mudline road and then on some dikes to a pool with shallow water.  We found several shorebirds, including Long-billed Dowitcher, Dunlin, Yellowlegs and Stilt Sandpiper.  

Nearby in the cattails, we found several Green Tree Frogs.  At first we walked right by them, but when we stopped and looked closely, they were everywhere.  

As we drove back down Mudline, we flushed a single Ground Dove from the road.  It flew behind the treeline and disappeared.  

We parted with Berlin and Bucky and headed for home.  After fourteen hours, we returned with two state birds and Terry had a lifer.