Sora

Back in February, once again, my wife's keen eyesight picked up on something. She pointed it out and asked "What is that on the roof?" Looked like a large leaf to me. So I glassed it and to my utter surprise- it was a sora (Porzana carolina). I have seen many types of birds in my own yard- blue jays, cardinals, mockingbirds, the various warblers and sparrows, grackles, starlings, finches, waxwings, etc., etc. etc., but never did I think I would see this marsh bird in our yard much less on the roof of our porch.


These birds are winter residents here and migrate north to their breeding grounds. The only thing I can figure is that this one was migrating in that northerly direction and took a pit stop on our roof to rest. It seemed to be in a daze while I photographed it, but after several minutes it stood up, alert as ever and flew away.