Species: Porzana carolina

Sora

Species

Birds

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Salish Sea-reliant birds

Terrestrial vertebrates: birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Gruiformes

Family

Rallidae

Genus

Porzana

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103998

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Polluela Sora - Sora Rail - marouette de Caroline

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Gruiformes - Rallidae - Porzana

Ecology and Life History

Migration

false - true - true - Arrives in northern breeding areas April-May, departs by September-October (Bent 1926). May make local migrations in Pacific states, generally extensive migrations elswhere. Migrants arrive in Costa Rica mostly in October, depart by late February or March (Stiles and Skutch 1989). Migration flights are mostly at night (Cogswell 1977).

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Eats mollusks, insects, seeds of marsh plants, duckweed (Terres 1980). Seeds, especially those of sedge and bulrush, may comprise the bulk of the diet. Often forages along edges (e.g., between vegetation types or along the edge of open water).

Reproduction Comments

Clutch size is 6-18 (commonly 10-12). Incubation, by both sexes, lasts 18-20 days. In the upper Midwest, most hatch in late May or early June. Young are tended by both parents, leave nest within 1-2 days but may return at night for brooding. Cornell Nest Record Program data indicate a nest success rate of 0.53 (Conway et al. 1994). Females may lay eggs in the nests of conspecifics; females may be able to recognize eggs that are not their own (see Sorenson 1995, Condor 97:819-821).

Ecology Comments

BREEDING: Home range size averaged 0.19 ha during brood-rearing (Johnson and Dinsmore 1985). NON-BREEDING: Roosts communally. Home range averaged 0.78 hectares in Arizona during winter (Conway 1990).

Length

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-11-25

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-25

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

BREEDS: southeastern Alaska to northern Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, south locally to northwestern Baja California, southern New Mexico, eastern Colorado, southern Missouri, central Ohio, and Maryland. NORTHERN WINTER: regularly from central California to southern Texas, Gulf Coast, and South Carolina, south through Middle America and West Indies to South America (west of Andes to central Peru, east of Andes to eastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, Venezuela, and Guyana. (AOU 1983).

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103998