Bob Barrett raises some interesting questions about molt in Purple Gallinules and its relation to timing of migration. It has been well established that synchronous or near-synchronous molt of the flight feathers is the norm for members of the Rallidae (rails, gallinules, moorhens, and coots). Most birds molt their flight feathers a few at a time, maintaining their ability to fly, but most rallids drop all their primaries, secondaries, and tail feathers at once, more or less, becoming flightless for a period of a few weeks until those feathers grow back. Among Ohio species, the replacement of the flight feathers (and resulting flightless period) happens mainly during August in Sora, Virginia Rail, King Rail, and Black Rail. In American Coot and Common Moorhen, it happens during late summer and early fall, again centered on August. Information from farther south indicates that the flightless period in Purple Gallinules is generally sometime between June and August, although it's plausible to suppose that it might be later this far north. The general pattern in this family, at least in North America, is for the flightless period of the molt to occur after breeding and before fall migration. It's interesting to look at other groups of birds that also become flightless because of a synchronous molt of flight feathers. The best-known example involves ducks, geese, and swans, which likewise have their flightless period in late summer, after breeding and before fall migration. Loons and most alcids also go through a flightless stage, but the timing of this varies by species, and even among different ages of the same species. The common denominator is that these birds undergo the synchronous molt at a time and place where they don't really need to fly. Think about it: a rail in a large marsh, a gallinule or duck on a large marshy pond, or a loon or an alcid out on the ocean can get by for long periods without flying anywhere; they get their food by swimming or wading, and as long as they're not pressed by predators, they'll be fine. For anyone interested in details of molt, the most thorough source is the Identification Guide to North American Birds, by Peter Pyle, part I (1997) and part II (2008), both published by Slate Creek Press. These exhaustive compilations are not for the faint of heart, though. For a more popular and readable source, see the brand-new Molt in North American Birds, by Steve N.G. Howell (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010). Incidentally, Purple Gallinules may not appear to be strong flyers; but records of their vagrancy indicate that once they get going in the wrong direction, they can fly amazing distances. There are records for many islands in the Atlantic, north to Greenland and Iceland, south to the Falklands and even South Georgia I.; there are many records for Europe, as far north as Norway, and a surprising number of records for South Africa. (Indeed, Purple Gallinule and Buff-breasted Sandpiper are among the most frequent New World birds found in South Africa, despite the evident difference in flying ability of those two species!) Within South America, Purple Gallinules are apparently present only during the austral summer in Uruguay and perhaps parts of Argentina. They also move around considerably in seasonally flooded regions such as the llanos and the Pantanal; in those regions, the timing of the flightless period of their molt may be dictated mainly by the timing of wet seasons and dry seasons, but I haven't seen any data on that. Kenn Kaufman Oak Harbor, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]