(Posted by Jonathan Ferguson <jsf.regis...@gmail.com> via moumn.org)
I was walking around Lake Nokomis this morning, and at the south end, on the grass between the sidewalk and the narrow swamp of reeds, I saw what at first blush I thought was a female RWBB or starling, given its size and color and that it seemed so comfortable walking around by the sidewalk. I stopped, and at second glance -- it had no tail and acted more like a bobbing chicken -- I realized it was a rail. I watched it for about 30 seconds as it quietly, slowly walked through the green grass, then disappeared back into the reeds. (I though I took a long video of it on my iPhone, but realized it was on photo mode and I hadn't even hit play.) It was overall dark brown / black, and had and orange / red beak. When I got home and looked at pictures of rails online, I realized that it didn't have the black mask and yellow beak of a sora. Perhaps someone else will see it again and confirm an ID. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html