NATURE CLICKS #450 - SORA

Sora, Green Island Wetlands, Mississippi Valley, Iowa

I found another Wilson’s Snipe last Saturday at the same spot where I had taken a picture a week earlier, but a day later we didn’t see any of them. With the warm weather they may have moved on further north. Instead we found two Sora in the same habitat along the wooded, water-filled canal that borders the Green Island Road. The Sora is the most common and widely distributed rail in North America but it is a small secretive bird that lives in freshwater marshes and is not always easy to locate. They move very fast while feeding and foraging between old vegetation in the shallow water. With the dappled light between the trees it was quite a challenge to get a sharp and halfway correct exposed picture. A bird we always enjoy seeing!

NATURE CLICKS #402 - SORA

Sora, Mississippi River, Pool Slough, near New Albin, Iowa -----------

I drove to the extreme northeast corner of Iowa today, to New Albin, just south of the Minnesota border. At first came a little disappointment due to the fact that the gravel road across Pool Slough, a wildlife sanctuary in the backwaters of the Mississippi, was partly closed because of high water level. I guess the snow melt from the last few weeks comes down the river now. The road ends at a boat landing that is usually very popular among fishermen but the water made me stop a mile earlier already. With water, marsh land, and mudflats on both sides, the road is a great place for bird watching and photography not only at this time of the year. I didn’t give up and scanned the area with the binoculars. There were ducks and geese, eagles, coots, egrets, and herons but no small wading birds, as I was hoping for. The mudbanks were covered with water and that changes the food supply for sandpipers and other shore birds.

The real fun started when I heard the “whee-hee-hee-hee-hee” call of a Sora right next to me and it was answered from other places around. These rails are very small and it is not easy to spot them. For the next hour I was busy to capture the story of this little bird, how they walk with their big feet on floating debris, how they feed, and how good they can hide. The Sora feeds mainly on insects, mollusks, snails, seeds of plants, and duckweed. They rake floating vegetation with their feet and even pull it aside with their bill and search for food visually. Well, no sandpipers today, but I still have images from yesterday that I may post during the upcoming week. So please stay tuned…! 😊

IT’S ABOUT GESTURE

Northern Water Snake, Mississippi River, Deere Dyke, Dubuque, Iowa ---------    

Wildlife photography was not on the priority list during the last two days. Joan and I had Anthony and Teegan, our twin grandsons, at our house this weekend and that was a lot of fun. Today we went on a walk to the Deere dyke at the Mississippi River. The weather doesn’t get any better than today here in the Upper Mississippi Valley. I debated with myself about taking camera and long lens with me, but the only way not making any pictures is leaving the gear at home or in the car… Sure, the bright light of a Sunday afternoon without any clouds is not a favorite, but for the first time I had a Sora and several Lesser Yellowlegs in front of the lens at this location.

I got very excited while watching the Lesser Yellowlegs, a sandpiper that I have photographed at the Green Island Wetlands before during spring migration. When this Northern Water Snake, resting on a sun flooded log in the shallow backwaters of the Mississippi, lifted its head, my attention shifted immediately. It’s mediocre light but it is the gesture of the critter that makes the difference between a documentary shot and a photo that is worth to be shown.

THE DOG, A SORA, AND HARSH LIGHT

Sora, Green Island Wetlands, Mississippi River, Iowa

Yesterday Joan and I went on a “Sunday cruise” along the Mississippi by car and ended up checking all the known locations in the Green Island Wetlands that have led to some wildlife photography in the past. At the end of a short hike on one of the levees our little dog Cooper started barking and ran down to the water. First we thought a muskrat had triggered his instincts, since he usually ignores all the birds, but then we saw a Sora foraging on top of the driftwood and between the old reeds. We called him back immediately. It was the same spot in the wetlands where I had photographed this species last year after another photographer had made me aware of it. A little later we saw finally a second bird.

A look at the range map in my bird guides reveals that the Sora is widely distributed and is the most common rail in North America. The Green Island Wetlands are about at the southern border of their summer range.

It wasn’t an easy process to make this photo. I was shooting against the sun and all the reflections on the water made it a challenge to deal with exposure. The Sora moves fast while searching for food between the floating vegetation and quite often old stalks were in the way for a clean shot. The background is not very nice but it is it’s natural habitat. Last year I watched the Sora while it was raining and thought that was not easy. Well, I take the rain any time over the harsh light from last Sunday…

NATURE CLICKS #332 - SORA (FIRST SIGHTING)

It was another gray day without the sun coming out. I didn’t have high expectations when I went south to the Green Island Wetlands today. It was somehow on my mind that shooting birds against a gray sky or with water surrounded that reflects this sky will just not lead to any results, but I did it anyway. Oh boy, was I wrong!

Thanks to another birder and photographer, Tony Moline, I was able to have a first sighting of a Sora, a small rail. It isn’t really uncommon in North America but I have never seen one until today here in Eastern Iowa. The hint about their presence at Green Island came from two other birders from Illinois, but Tony made me aware where to look for this tiny shore bird. Thank you Tony!

The second picture was the last photo on my memory card today. I didn’t stop to work with this bird until the rain came down hard. I guess I got carried away… There were other observation in the wetlands earlier today and I may post about it in the next few days. So please stay tuned…