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Warblers at Green Cay Sunday - but where did the sora go?
On Sunday, it rained lightly all day pretty much, but I took a walk around in the rain around 2pm to 4pm at Green Cay. Didn't spot the ani that was widely photographed, but noticed a few more warblers have joined all the black-and-whites that were there the weekend before: prairies, N. parulas, B&Ws, and some blue-grey gnatcatchers all present, mostly in the parking lot and along the main entrance.
Also haven't been many terns around the past month or two, but several least terns were busy hunting in the rain, and at least 3 kingfishers have returned (hadn't heard or seen them most of the summer so far). Lots of least bitterns around - but quite strangely I have seen almost no sora all summer. Last summer there were dozens of them - one walk around the boardwalk and I could count 25+...and they lasted pretty much all summer through. But so far this summer, I saw 2-3 back in late May to early June, and haven't clocked a single one in July. Where'd all the sora go? Anyone noticing high numbers of sora in other S. Florida spots, or anyone noticing a shortage in them this summer?
Comments
It's pretty interesting that the Soras stick through the summer at the wetland. I've only ever seen/heard Sora during the winter months in Miami-Dade. It's like the Semipalmated Plovers that stick year round at Crandon Park.
Sora are winter visitors in Florida; they are present from fall through spring, but are not here during summer. I checked eBird records for Sora at Green Cay; there are none for July and August. I thus find it very curious that you claim to have seen 25+ per day during summer.
Also, please direct me to any publicly available photographs of the "widely photographed" Green Cay ani. I've seen one previous mention of this sighting on the BirdBoard but have yet to see any eBird submissions or photographs.
I'll have to do some digging through my photos on my main computer, but I seemed to see sora constantly last summer - definitely in August, if not July...but Green Cay is the only place I see them during this time. It's possible I was off on July - I'll see if I have any shots of them from that month too.
I saw two other reports of the ani aside from this one here - one in particular with a documenting photograph is a friend of mine, rgwaller, who posts on Dpreview's Sony board. Check out the last photo he posted in this post:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/56247883
I shoot with him most Saturdays - but he gets out earlier than I do - he said there were at least two other photographers there with him when he was shooting it - I'd guess there are at a minimum 3 different people who got shots of it.
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