Sora and bloggers at Jamaica Bay East Pond...Birding Dude

Sora and bloggers at Jamaica Bay East Pond...

A planned trip to Delaware was put on hold for the weekend and so I ended up visiting the East Pond at Jamaica Bay on August 22nd for a quick spell of birding before it was off to work on a friend's computer...UGH (what was I thinking)! Initially, I thought I had gotten there early, before anyone else; however, as I walked out on the North End of the East Pond, I saw birder Peter Chen and his two kids already on the mudflats. When I caught up to Peter, he keyed me on a Sora (Porzana carolina), along the edge of the phragmites. It was a pleasant surprise to see this elusive bird feeding oblivious to our presence.

After looking at the Sora for a few minutes, we were joined by several groups of birders. Despite the crowd the Sora stuck around and we were able to pass the word out; I believe most people that arrived around that time saw the bird. Among the groups were a number of birders/bloggers that were out on a Jamaica Bay walk. The only one from the blogging group I knew was Corey Finger who I have birded with. Eventually, I did get to meet a few of the bloggers/tweeters including, Christopher from Picus Blog, Ann Marie also known by her twitter handle as iheartwarblers, Beverly Robertson from Behind the Bins and Catherine Hamilton from mydogoscar. Since, I knew Beverly Robertson had expressed her desire to land an American Golden Plover, I tried hard to find the one that was seen there a few days ago. Alas, it was not to be a Golden Plover day for Beverly as it appeared that the bird was no longer around. By then, it was time to leave and so I reluctantly left Jamaica Bay, but not before getting a few photos, including one that captured a visitor who got stuck in the mud around the dreaded cove. My hats off to Christopher from Picus Blog, who was a total gentleman in being the only one who ventured out into the mud to help, while other birders walked right by her. They, no doubt fearing their own demise if they stopped to help. Luckily, with Christoper's help she made it out of the muck. Of course, I did nothing to help either; instead, I seized my chance to get a few photographs of the moment.