The sora, sora rail or Carolina crake (Porzana carolina) is a small waterbird of the rail family Rallidae, sometimes also referred to as the sora rail or sora crake, that occurs throughout much of North America. The genus name Porzana is derived from Venetian terms for small rails, and the specific carolina refers to the Carolina Colony. The common name "Sora" is probably derived from a Native American language.

They migrate to the southern United States and northern South America. The sora is a very rare vagrant to western Europe, where it can be confused with spotted crake. However, the latter species always has spotting on the breast, a streaked crown stripe, and a different wing pattern.

Soras forage while walking or swimming. They are omnivores, eating seeds, insects and snails. Although soras are more often heard than seen, they are sometimes seen walking near open water. They are fairly common, despite a decrease in suitable habitat in recent times. The call is a slow whistled ker-whee, or a descending whinny.

Taxonomy

The sora was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the rails in the genus Rallus and coined the binomial name Rallus carolinus. Linnaeus based his description on the "little American water hen" that George Edwards had described and illustrated in 1750 from a specimen collected near the Hudson Bay. Linnaeus also cited Mark Catesby who had described the "soree" in his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. The sora is now placed in the genus Porzana that was erected in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis-Pierre Vieillot. The genus name is derived from Venetian terms for small rails, the specific epithet refers to the Carolina Colony. The common name "Sora" is probably derived from a Native American language. The species in monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. long, with dark-marked brown upperparts, a blue-grey face and underparts, and black and white barring on the flanks. They have a short thick yellow bill, with black markings on the face at the base of the bill and on the throat. Sexes are similar, but young soras lack the black facial markings and have a whitish face and buff breast. They weigh about Soras have two common calls: a loud, squeaking "whinny" that decelerates and descends in pitch, often used to advertise territories; and a softer, ascending "ker-wee" or "sor-ah". The latter call is sometimes presented as a possible origin for the species' common name.

Distribution and habitat

The sora is common across North America,

The size of an individual sora's home range varies. Sora brood-rearing home ranges in northwestern Iowa averaged . In western New York, soras occurred during the breeding season on a study site where 26% of the area was categorized as "flooded timber," and 5% was classed as "scrub/shrub marsh".

Soras use areas with a wide range of water depths. They are often observed in water less than deep, Soras typically avoid open water. There is a significant (p≤0.05) negative relationship between area of open water and sora use of wetlands in Maine They nest in a well-concealed location in dense vegetation. Sora females begin construction of saucer-shaped nests on the ground or on a platform over shallow water at the start of egg laying. although clutch sizes of up to 16 have been reported. Nestlings are precocial and are capable of walking and swimming short distances (< ) by the end of their first day. Young soras are independent by about 4 weeks of age. Soras brood once per season. A literature review lists crowngrass (Paspalum spp.) and rice (Oryza sativa) as relatively important food sources for soras in the Southeast. Plants composing less than 5% of the sora's diet are also listed and include spikerushes (Eleocharis spp.), duckweeds (Lemnaceae), pondweeds (Potamogeton spp.), panicgrasses (Panicum spp.), cordgrasses (Spartina spp.), and saltgrass (Distichlis spicata). Predation of adult soras by American minks, coyotes, and hawks and owls have been reported.

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  • Sora Species Account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
  • Sora – Porzana carolina – USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter