Sora, Sweetwater Wetlands
Sora Rail, Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson AZ.
We had limited time this morning before show hours at the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival, so we went to Sweetwater Wetlands, perhaps the best known sewage treatment plant in America. In winter the old settlement ponds, now converted to a birding destination, attract a host of waterfowl and wintering passerines that you would otherwise be hard pressed to find here in the desert Southwest. In summer…not so much…but it is still good for nesting waterfowl, rails and the normal Desert nesters. Today the birding was slow. We did hear a few Soras on our way around the levie trails, but it was not until the third pass by the main observation deck that this one flew across my view while watching an immature Black-crowned Night Heron way across the pond, and landed at the edge of the reeds. Instead of scuttling back in deep, usual behavior for rails, this Sora spent a good 15 minutes in plain view.
Sony RX10iii at 1200mm equivalent field of view. (In-camera crop to 5mp.) 1/640th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in PhotoShop Express on my Android tablet.
Stephen, what a great photo! Your new Sony gets impressive results. I suspect the person on the back side of the lens also has some impact!
After leaving you at the show Friday, I stopped at Sweetwater shortly before sunset and met with Bob and Judy. This time we found the Sora in the pond at the south observation deck on the east end.
I tried for a photo but due to the declining light, the shutter speed was to slow and the photo was blurred. Total brain fade took over and I could not remember the quick way to up the ISO speed. By the time I drilled through all of the menus and upped the ISO, our Sora disappeared into the reeds, not to be seen again. So my result was just one terribly blurred photo of the Sora.
Thanks for posting this excellent photo and providing a close up look at this elusive bird.