Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Good morning, All ~
Last evening I was canoeing a local beaver pond with a good friend (I will be opening the 2017 Duck Season there on Saturday) and saw what I first thought was a jumping fish. We were looking into the setting sun and so mostly saw just the splashes and ripples on the water. As we paddled closer, we could soon make out a bird on the surface - and occasionally diving with lots of fanfare (I wish I could describe the action). It looked like it was in hot pursuit of finny prey.
My first thought was Grebe - but it was pretty small for a Pied-billed (which we've seen here previously) and the smaller Eared and Least live way west of the Empire State. And, it certainly did not dive or submerge like a Grebe. We got within 10 yards and I could soon see the high, pointed tail with a white underside. It slowly dawned on me that we were watching a Sora. It splashed and dove a few more times - and then "disappeared" while still 20 or so feet from heavy emergent marsh cover (mostly tussock sedges). From what I have skimmed quickly on-line, it seems it may have walked on the bottom until it gained the meadow.
This is not my photo (Google Images):
View attachment RNWR_sora_swimming_04-30-10_med.jpg
Sure enough, the Sora is known to be an excellent diver:
1. Sora swim, underwater.
That's right, they are able to dive under the water and zoom around like tiny little submarines. I didn’t believe it the first time my technicians ran over to me and told me what they saw but over the season we saw it over and over again. Every time you try and catch one they dive, you put a radio transmitter on them, you are on top of the bird and suddenly, it’s gone and pops up 20 meters away. It's crazy, but they do it.
From: https://aurielfournier.github.io/7-things-you-may-not-know-about-rails/
The sora, like other rails, can swim well or even dive, if necessary. It often swims across narrow strips of water, rather than fly. C. J. Maynard (1896) writes:
All the rails swim and dive well but I think the Carolinas rather excel them all in this respect, for they will not only take readily to the water, but will pass beneath it with great facility, and I once saw one run nimbly along the bottom of a brook, the water of which was about a foot deep, by clinging to aquatic plants, and crossing it obliquely, emerged on the other side, thus passing over some 15 feet while submerged.
From: https://birdsbybent.netfirms.com/ch61-70/sorarail.html
I have watched many Soras in my earlier years - especially when I worked at the Horicon NWR in the mid 1970s - but never saw them swim or dive. I am now determined to spend some time in local Cattail marshes next spring - armed with a recorder/player - in pursuit of Soras and Virginias.
Has anyone else seen Rails diving?
All the best,
SJS
Last evening I was canoeing a local beaver pond with a good friend (I will be opening the 2017 Duck Season there on Saturday) and saw what I first thought was a jumping fish. We were looking into the setting sun and so mostly saw just the splashes and ripples on the water. As we paddled closer, we could soon make out a bird on the surface - and occasionally diving with lots of fanfare (I wish I could describe the action). It looked like it was in hot pursuit of finny prey.
My first thought was Grebe - but it was pretty small for a Pied-billed (which we've seen here previously) and the smaller Eared and Least live way west of the Empire State. And, it certainly did not dive or submerge like a Grebe. We got within 10 yards and I could soon see the high, pointed tail with a white underside. It slowly dawned on me that we were watching a Sora. It splashed and dove a few more times - and then "disappeared" while still 20 or so feet from heavy emergent marsh cover (mostly tussock sedges). From what I have skimmed quickly on-line, it seems it may have walked on the bottom until it gained the meadow.
This is not my photo (Google Images):
View attachment RNWR_sora_swimming_04-30-10_med.jpg
Sure enough, the Sora is known to be an excellent diver:
1. Sora swim, underwater.
That's right, they are able to dive under the water and zoom around like tiny little submarines. I didn’t believe it the first time my technicians ran over to me and told me what they saw but over the season we saw it over and over again. Every time you try and catch one they dive, you put a radio transmitter on them, you are on top of the bird and suddenly, it’s gone and pops up 20 meters away. It's crazy, but they do it.
From: https://aurielfournier.github.io/7-things-you-may-not-know-about-rails/
The sora, like other rails, can swim well or even dive, if necessary. It often swims across narrow strips of water, rather than fly. C. J. Maynard (1896) writes:
All the rails swim and dive well but I think the Carolinas rather excel them all in this respect, for they will not only take readily to the water, but will pass beneath it with great facility, and I once saw one run nimbly along the bottom of a brook, the water of which was about a foot deep, by clinging to aquatic plants, and crossing it obliquely, emerged on the other side, thus passing over some 15 feet while submerged.
From: https://birdsbybent.netfirms.com/ch61-70/sorarail.html
I have watched many Soras in my earlier years - especially when I worked at the Horicon NWR in the mid 1970s - but never saw them swim or dive. I am now determined to spend some time in local Cattail marshes next spring - armed with a recorder/player - in pursuit of Soras and Virginias.
Has anyone else seen Rails diving?
All the best,
SJS
