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Sora - Porzana carolina

Sora
Characteristics
Range
Habitat
Diet
Life Cycle
Behavior

 Classification

 Phylum: Chordata
 Class: Aves
 Order: Gruiformes
 Family: Rallidae
 Genus:  Porzana

Sora

ICUN Redlist - World Status: Least ConcernLeast Concern
    Audio Credit: xeno-canto.org Chris Parrish cc logo
  Characteristics
SoraThis marsh bird is six to eight inches in length with a wingspan of 12 inches. It has a yellow bill and yellow legs. It has a brown body and  wings, a gray chest and belly and a black mask on its face. The sora is sometimes called the Carolina crake or the sora rail.

  Range
mapThe sora breeds from British Columbia east to the Maritime Islands and south to California, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. It usually winters along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts north to California and Virginia.

  Habitat
SoraThe sora lives in salt, brackish and freshwater marshes, rice fields and marshy ponds. It prefers areas with cattails, sedges and other tall plants.

 
  Diet

SoraThe sora eats seeds, insects and snails. It usually picks its food from the surface of the water, the ground, or off of plants, but it will sometimes probe in the mud or vegetation for food.

  Life Cycle
SoraSoras form breeding pairs in the early spring. Both the male and the female will preen for each other during courtship. The female sora lays 6-15 eggs in a cup of cattails and dead leaves. The nest is usually located in a clump of reeds in an open area of a marsh close to water. The chicks hatch after about 18 days. They feed themselves shortly after hatching. Both parents incubate the eggs and care for the chicks. The chicks fledge in 20-25 days.

  Behavior

SoraThe sora is rarely seen, but it is often heard! It is especially noisy at dawn when it calls out with a series of sharp calls and whinnying notes.




 


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