Kent Co. Yellow Rail, 23 Apr

[Caleb Putnam]

At 10:30PM on Wednesday 23 Apr 2008 Curtis Dkystra and I briefly heard a Yellow Rail at Roselle Park near Ada in Kent County.  The bird sang one time for several seconds, but was not heard a second time.  There are at least 5 Soras also present and they hardly made more than a peep- so it was a rough night for trying to get rails to sing at all (reminds me of chasing Black Rail in Berrien).  The approximate coordinates of the bird's location (taken from a Google Earth approximation, not from a GPS reading at the site) are 42 59 3.66 N, 85 31 59.82 W.  This is in the NW corner of the western half of the park, which is bisected by a footpath.

Directions. The address of the park is 1010 Grand River Dr. NE, Ada, MI (run a google maps with this address for a good map).  Take I-96 to just east of Grand Rapids and exit at Fulton St (M-21).  If coming from the east you will have to go one exit past Fulton (E. Beltline) and turn around as there is only an exit for eastbound traffic at Fulton.  Head about 2.25 miles east on Fulton to Carl Dr NE.  Turn left (north) onto Carl and go 0.3 miles to Grand River Dr NE and turn left onto Grand River Dr NE.  Proceed 0.8 miles to Roselle Park on your right.  Walk past the silos- the wet meadow habitat will become apparent on your left.  The Yellow Rail was heard on the far (north) end of the wetland on its western edge.  You may want to walk the footpath east to the power line, then take the left fork which will bring you to the north edge of the meadow- a bit closer to where the rail was heard.

This is a rare Kent County record for this species, but it is worth noting that one was heard on at least 2 occasions on approx. May 5, 2006 at this exact location, and that several Le Conte's Sparrows were observed here last fall as well, so it seems to represent a nice habitat for migratory sedge marsh breeders.

Good Birding,
Caleb Putnam

Caleb G Putnam 
Grand Rapids, MI
larus10 at hotmail.com
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