A Secretive Sora at the Willms Ranch Pond on California's Prairie

California has some special landscapes that are not part of the usual tourist routes. One of those unheralded ecosystems is the prairie lands that form the edge of the Great Valley. The lowest part of the Sierra Nevada foothills have not yet been completely covered by almond orchards, and aside from the grazing of cows, the grasslands look much as they did hundreds of years ago. Much of the land is private, but parts can be seen from public roads, and a generous ranch owner provides some public access at a stock pond that is a local hot spot for birding. It's on Willms Road a couple of miles south of Knights Ferry on the Stanislaus River. I stopped by on the weekend while looking for Burrowing Owls (note the last two posts).

We saw the usual assortment of American Coots, Egrets, Pied-billed Grebes, Common Gallinule and Kestrels, but as we were preparing to leave, we got a little treat. I was looking back at the reeds and was surprised to see another bird lurking around the shadows. It turned out to be a Sora (Porzana Carolina). The birds, a type of rail, are said to be common but secretive, being heard more often than seen. The pictures show just how hard they were to photograph. This was only third time I've seen one (previous sightings were at Stone Lakes and the Merced National Wildlife Refuge).

The picture above provides an idea of the setting of the pond where we were exploring. We saw the Sora in the reeds to the left of Mrs. Geotripper.