What sounds like a Sora?

[Karin Lamberson]

Hi folks,

I was walking Jackson-Frazier Wetland on a recent drizzly day.  I heard a sound which was very similar to a whinny call of a sora, maybe a little more irregular.  But Sora are not here this time of year.  Any ideas what I was hearing?  The first thing that comes to my mind is a bald eagle, but I don't think it was that either.  Too bad I don't have a recording!

Thanks,

Karin

[Lisa Millbank]

A few Soras may stick around through the winter, although like you mentioned, it's not very common.  Up to 3 were being reported from Talking Water Gardens in Albany in mid-December!  The warmer wastewater discharge there probably makes that site more hospitable for overwintering Soras than natural wetlands, but it's still a slight possibility at Jackson-Frazier.

The Bald Eagle whinny does sound surprisingly similar at a distance, and there's a local pair whose nest is about 1-1/2 miles from Jackson-Frazier.  Another possibility is that starlings can imitate that Sora whinny pretty well.  If you were close, you might hear the whinny followed by additional imitations of other species mixed in with the usual starling clicks, whistles and whirring sounds, but from a distance some of the other sounds may not be clearly heard.

Lisa Millbank

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[Betty nancy bee]

I thought I heard a sora at the tiny wetland at Willamette Landing at the south end of Willamette park. 

But I had mixed up and misremembered the call of the sora and the Virgina rail. A rail was reported there recently. So that seems more plausibly what I heard. 

Humans and nature can co-exist, and both can thrive.

Travel and nature blog: https://nancybird375.wordpress.com/

On Jan 7, 2023, at 11:20 PM, Lisa Millbank <millba...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Joel Geier]

Virginia Rails will sometimes give an abbreviated whinny similar to a Sora's longer whinny call, in response to disturbance.

I've also heard Red-winged Blackbirds give something similar in a few localities, including E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area. But Starlings are always a prime suspect.

Wintering Soras seem to be getting more common in recent years, even in colder parts of the state including Prineville in Central Oregon. As Lisa notes, this is mainly in wetlands with artificial thermal input such as wastewater treatment ponds, rather than in natural wetlands like Jackson-Frazier, which can still freeze over in cold snaps.

It's remarkable how much stored heat we humans put out into the environment, just by running sinks and flushing toilets! In some other countries such as Sweden, "grey-water" heat recovery systems are a regular part of new building construction, but the idea doesn't seem to have caught on yet in Oregon.

Joel Geier

Tampico neighborhood north of Corvallis

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From: "Nancy Baumeister" <bee....@gmail.com>
To: "Lisa Millbank" <millba...@gmail.com>
Cc: "Karin Lamberson" <karin.l...@gmail.com>, "Mid-Valley Nature" <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 8, 2023 3:52:56 PM
Subject: Re: [MidValleyNature:6861] What sounds like a Sora?

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[Nancy Betty Baumeister]

What I heard could have been a red winged blackbird. They are always at that little wetland. I don’t exactly know the source of the water there but it gets enough even in the summer to support cattails. Maybe it’s runoff from excessive summer  watering in the neighborhood it drains. 

Nancy (Betty) Bee

 Blog: https://nancybird375.wordpress.com/

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." -Lao Tzu

On Jan 8, 2023, at 4:13 PM, Joel Geier <clear...@peak.org> wrote: