Sora

The Sora is North America’s most widespread rail, a pint-sized marsh bird barely larger than a sparrow. It sports a short, chicken-like body, a stubby yellow bill, slate-gray face and breast, and a striking black mask and throat patch. Warm brown upperparts are streaked with black and lined with crisp white spots, while the short tail is habitually flicked upward to flash bright white undertail coverts as the bird slips through dense cattails and sedges.

“KEE-kee-kee-kee-kee-kee-kee”

Shallow freshwater and brackish marshes with cattail, bulrush, sedge, wild rice, and other emergent vegetation; wet meadows, rice fields, flooded pasture, and mangrove edges during migration and winter.

Northbound migrants appear from March–May; peak nesting June–July. Southbound movement begins August, with most gone from northern marshes by late October. Winter birds are largely sedentary until spring.