When a friend and I arrived at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area early this morning, dense fog shrouded most of the Missouri River floodplain. As the morning progressed, the fog burned off and we enjoyed a pleasant tour of the refuge; unfortunately, the birding did not match the scenery.
While teal hunters crouched in the muck with their decoys, we did not see a single goose or duck during our two hour visit; indeed, a lone pied-billed grebe was the only bird found on the pools and central channel. Among the 17 species that we encountered, the only "highlights" (a generous term) were a handful of great blue herons, a single green heron, a female northern harrier, a broad-winged hawk and a belted kingfisher. Then, as we headed for the exit, loud cackling arose from a marsh along the central roadway.
The source of the noise was a trio of soras, small rails that migrate through Missouri; after breeding in freshwater marshes across Canada and the Northern and Western U.S., soras depart for saltwater marshlands along southern coasts of the U.S., Mexico, Central America and South America. More often heard than seen, the reclusive, omnivorous rails saved our morning excursion.
