Sunday, March 27, 2011

Virginia Rail

I lost the Sora in the Cattails after awhile, then refound it it further down the road; or so I thought.
I only got a few pictures of the bird at that point and there were few unobstructed views. To my surprise, when I viewed these last images of what I thought were more Sora pictures, I found that the last views I had where actual that of a Virginia Rail.

The two birds are similar in size and shape, but the coloring is different. The bill of the Virginia Rail is longer and thinner and more orange than the Sora. Its legs are orangish rather than green and the breast and belly peachy rather than gray.

2 comments:

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    1. Beautiful photos! We just drove by one on the side of our dirt road. I'd never heard of this bird. We see American Bitterns on our swamp all summer, but had no idea this bird existed there. He was standing there, facing the road, bobbing horizontally, front to back.

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