Sorry for the lateness of this post. On 5 October, on my way back from dropping our son at his new home in northern BC, I stopped along Hwy 11 at an old burn west of Hearst (49.7755205,-84.5573708) to stretch my legs and poke around looking for birds. In a small marsh I flushed two birds that were probably yellow rails. One had a distinctly yellow cast over streaked, buffy plumage with some white;the other was streaky grey/brown with no obvious yellow but was seen with the sun behind it. I didn't manage to get binoculars on either bird, as I was watching my footing and they popped up very briefly before dropping into some dogwoods beside the wetland. As an aside - if anyone could suggest another possibility for these birds, I'd be interested. The size, habitat and general appearance said small rail to me. The yellowish cast of the first bird said yellow rail. I have not, alas, seen a yellow rail previously; I have (only somewhat bitterly) refrained from adding it to my list. No 3-toed woodpeckers but a very noisy pileated was in attendance, as well as ravens, bc chickadees and a yellow-bellied flycatcher hawking insects from a black spruce next to the marsh. Peter Meisenheimer Powassan Ontario Canada *along the brittle treacherous bright streets of memory comes my heart singing like an idiot whispering like a drunken mane.e. cummings*