Population status

Yellow Rail
(Coturnicops noveboracensis)

Because of its elusive behaviour, nocturnal calling habits, and patchy breeding distribution, surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey and Christmas Bird Count are not reliable for this species (COSEWIC 2009f). Its concentration in remote northern regions and preference for inaccessible inland marshes also limit the value of more appropriate methods such as call-playback and targeted searches used by the Marsh Monitoring Program and Breeding Bird Atlases (COSEWIC 2009f, Tozer 2007). Directed surveys in known breeding areas have revealed strong inter-annual fluctuations and some localized declines, but reliable Canada-wide trend estimates are not yet available (COSEWIC 2009f). Recent work using autonomous recording units has proven to be effective at detecting vocalizing Yellow Rails (Drake et al. 2016), suggesting a potential alternative monitoring strategy for this elusive species. Because of the lack of information, a quantitative national population goal for the Yellow Rail has not yet been determined. However, the species is considered to be below acceptable levels until it is de-listed under the Species At Risk Act.

 

Population goal and acceptable levels of variation

Species/groupGoalLower levelUpper level
Yellow RailAbundance required for de-listing (SARA)Equal to goalNot applicable

References