May 7th - a Sora in Franklin County!

Sora - Franklin Co., MA. May 7th, 2020. 

The day began chilly as it had done for the three previous mornings. It took a while to warm up but by mid-afternoon it was a pleasantly warm 63 deg F. Indications of detectable new bird arrivals were few, very few in fact with some evidence that a number of yesterday's migrants still lingering. For example, a single White-crowned Sparrow and 15 - 20 White-throated Sparrows remained at Barton Cove, Gill and only slightly fewer Yellow-rumped Warblers were active and singing all along the banks of the Connecticut River. I did hear a Great Crested Flycatcher calling in Sunderland, my first this year.

Sora - Franklin Co., MA. May 7th, 2020. 

Two days ago Josh Layfield reported hearing a probable Sora calling from a virtually un-watched wetland in Deerfield and since that time the species has cropped up several times as a topic of conversation between friends, primarily because it appears to be incredibly scarce in the Pioneer Valley and especially Franklin County. Having thought more deeply about my personal experiences with Sora in 'the valley' I could only recall two records, both from Hampshire County in the mid 2000s, and one of those was a roadkill! So when a friend advanced a report of one seen and photographed today only 20 minutes from my house I became more than interested and duly abandoned an afternoon bike ride in favor of a little twitching! The place wasn't difficult to find as good Sora habitat appears to be pretty limited in Franklin County and after no more than 15 minutes of waiting I was treated to remarkably good views of a remarkably bold Sora! In fact, it showed so well I found it hard to imagine that the species had somehow managed to elude me for the last 10 years of residing in Franklin County! In reality, I'm usually away leading birding tours in spring, but a traditionally busy time for travel was closed off in mid-March as it was for everyone in the travel industry. Still, being grounded and isolated clearly has a tiny handful of perks and this Sora turned out to be one of them. In respect of social distancing protocol and in respect of the bird, I'll avoid posting a specific location but needless to say, as always in these situations, I'm particularly grateful to the finders - thank you!

Sora - Franklin Co., MA. May 7th, 2020.