Bird
Sora
Porzana carolina
A winter visitor to Alabama, found in all 67 counties and 11 habitats.
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 11

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 11
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Alabama 11
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)


Streams, rivers and their banks


Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.
Open, grass-dominated places kept open by fire, grazing or thin soil, from tallgrass prairie to Piedmont prairies.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Other habitats in its models (90)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Alabama. Those recorded in Alabama first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (24)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Winter, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Winter.
- South Florida Mangrove Swamp Winter.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Winter.
- Southeastern Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Blackland Tallgrass Prairie Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter, beside its main habitat.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Winter, beside its main habitat.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Winter, beside its main habitat.
Northeast (7)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Winter.
- Great Lakes Freshwater Estuary and Delta Summer.
- Laurentian-Acadian Freshwater Marsh Summer.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Winter, beside its main habitat.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Heathland and Grassland Winter, beside its main habitat.
Midwest (11)
- Central Mixedgrass Prairie Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Central Tallgrass Prairie Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Eastern Great Plains Tallgrass Aspen Parkland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Great Lakes Wet-Mesic Lakeplain Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Great Plains Prairie Pothole Summer and winter.
- Northern Great Lakes Coastal Marsh Summer.
- Northern Tallgrass Prairie Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Northwestern Great Plains Mixedgrass Prairie Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Open Freshwater Depression Wetland Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Saline Depression Wetland Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
West (31)
- California Central Valley and Southern Coastal Grassland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- California Central Valley Riparian Woodland and Shrubland Winter, beside its main habitat.
- California Mesic Serpentine Grassland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- California Northern Coastal Grassland Winter, beside its main habitat.
- Columbia Basin Palouse Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Inter-Mountain Basins Alkaline Closed Depression Summer and winter.
- Inter-Mountain Basins Interdunal Swale Wetland Summer and winter.
- Mediterranean California Serpentine Fen Summer and winter.
- Mediterranean California Subalpine-Montane Fen Summer and winter.
- North American Arid West Emergent Marsh Summer and winter.
- North American Warm Desert Lower Montane Riparian Woodland and Shrubland Winter, beside its main habitat.
- North Pacific Bog and Fen Summer.
- North Pacific Intertidal Freshwater Wetland Summer.
- Northern California Claypan Vernal Pool Summer and winter.
- Northern Rocky Mountain Lower Montane, Foothill and Valley Grassland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Northern Rocky Mountain Subalpine-Upper Montane Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Rocky Mountain Alpine-Montane Wet Meadow Summer.
- Rocky Mountain Subalpine-Montane Fen Summer.
- Rocky Mountain Subalpine-Montane Mesic Meadow Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Rocky Mountain Montane-Subalpine Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Temperate Pacific Freshwater Emergent Marsh Summer and winter.
- Temperate Pacific Freshwater Mudflat Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Temperate Pacific Intertidal Mudflat Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Temperate Pacific Montane Wet Meadow Summer and winter.
- Temperate Pacific Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Winter.
- Western Great Plains Closed Depression Wetland Summer and winter.
- Western Great Plains Foothill and Piedmont Grassland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Riparian Woodland and Shrubland Winter, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Shortgrass Prairie Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Willamette Valley Upland Prairie and Savanna Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Willamette Valley Wet Prairie Summer.
Land cover and other classes (17)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Summer and winter.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer and winter.
- Great Lakes Coastal Marsh Systems Summer.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Laurentian-Acadian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer.
- Modified/Managed Southern Tall Grassland Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- South Texas Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter, beside its main habitat.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer and winter.
Seasons in Alabama
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 66 of 67 counties.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 8 of 67 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 447
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Alabama. Shared habitat, not food.
- Polygonella polygamaPolygonella polygama
- Christmas FernPolystichum acrostichoides
- Eastern CottonwoodPopulus deltoides
- Swamp CottonwoodPopulus heterophylla
- Waterthread PondweedPotamogeton diversifolius
- Leafy PondweedPotamogeton foliosus
- Longleaf PondweedPotamogeton nodosus
- White OakQuercus alba
- Scarlet OakQuercus coccinea
- Southern Red OakQuercus falcata
- Laurel OakQuercus laurifolia
- Overcup OakQuercus lyrata
- Swamp Chestnut OakQuercus michauxii
- Quercus myrtifoliaQuercus myrtifolia
- Water OakQuercus nigra
- Oglethorpe OakQuercus oglethorpensis
- Willow OakQuercus phellos
- Northern Red OakQuercus rubra
- Shumard OakQuercus shumardii
- Post OakQuercus stellata
- Black OakQuercus velutina
- Savanna Meadow-beautyRhexia alifanus
- Yellow Meadow-beautyRhexia lutea
- Rhexia salicifoliaRhexia salicifolia
Wildlife 253
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Alabama. Not sighting records.
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Common YellowthroatGeothlypis trichas
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- European StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
- Sharp-shinned HawkAccipiter striatus
- Spotted SandpiperActitis macularius
- Tree SwallowTachycineta bicolor
- Turkey VultureCathartes aura
- Yellow-breasted ChatIcteria virens
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CrowCorvus brachyrhynchos
- Bank SwallowRiparia riparia
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Yellow-crowned Night-heronNyctanassa violacea
- American KestrelFalco sparverius
- Common GrackleQuiscalus quiscula
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Sora
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)













































