Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Roadkill Sora

This immature sora would have been a life bird, had it been alive.


Of course, if it had been alive, I would not have seen it.

I found that sora on Sunset Boulevard in Cape May Point yesterday morning. There are marshes on either side of the road, and my guess is that it tried to walk or fly from one to the other when it got hit by a car. About 60 million birds are killed by automobiles per year. That is more than hunting or wind turbines, but less than window strikes.

One thing that impressed me about the sora, aside from the rich brown coloring of its back and wings, was the size of the bird. No wonder I have trouble finding a bird so small!