Tonight when I was picking up my daughter from work, we found an
immature Sora hiding under the parked cars. It was so out of place
since there is no water near and no marsh in sight. I watched it for
about 20 minutes until I had to leave. It was very timid and would not
move out from under a car unless it had to. On one occasion I reached
under the car to force it out because the driver was leaving his parking
place. The bird just walked to the next car and hid under there.

It looked just like the illustration in the National Geographic guide of
a juvenile Sora. Very pale underneath with no black on the face, a
yellow bill and yellowish legs. The barring on the sides and and
streaks on the back were fresh looking.

I often wonder what others do in these situations. This bird was
clearly misplaced. He didn't want to fly and was in very real danger of
being run over. I'm not sure I could have caught it if I tried. I felt
I would be playing car tag all over the parking lot and so I left it
alone. Anyone have any thoughts on what the bird might have been doing
there? I understand that this species does most of its migrating at
night. It was around 6:00pm when I found it.

Yvonne Bombardier
Everett, Wa