Bird
Sora
Porzana carolina
A winter visitor to Mississippi, found in all 82 counties and 9 habitats.
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 82 counties
- Habitats
- 9

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 82 counties
- Habitats
- 9
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Mississippi 9
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.
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.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
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 (92)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Mississippi. Those recorded in Mississippi first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (25)
- 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.
- South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian Summer and 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 (18)
- 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 - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- 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 Mississippi
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 79 of 82 counties.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 12 of 82 counties.
Food plants
Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Plants matched by genus.
Native plants in these genera 325
- Pale SmartweedPersicaria lapathifolia
- Swamp SmartweedPersicaria hydropiperoides
- Arrowleaf TearthumbPersicaria sagittata
- Bog SmartweedPersicaria setacea
- Dense-flower SmartweedPersicaria densiflora
- Dotted SmartweedPersicaria punctata
- Hairy SmartweedPersicaria hirsuta
- JumpseedPersicaria virginiana
- Pennsylvania SmartweedPersicaria pensylvanica
- Water SmartweedPersicaria amphibia
- Common Three Square BulrushSchoenoplectus pungens var. pungens
- Delta BulrushSchoenoplectus deltarum
- California BulrushSchoenoplectus californicus
- Canby's BulrushSchoenoplectus etuberculatus
- Common Three Square BulrushSchoenoplectus pungens
- Olney's ThreesquareSchoenoplectus americanus
- Softstem BulrushSchoenoplectus tabernaemontani
- Swaying BulrushSchoenoplectus subterminalis
- Carex atlantica subsp. atlanticaCarex atlantica subsp. atlantica
- Carex atlantica subsp. capillaceaCarex atlantica subsp. capillacea
- Carex baltzelliiCarex baltzellii
- Carex bromoides subsp. bromoidesCarex bromoides subsp. bromoides
- Carex communis var. communisCarex communis var. communis
- Carex dasycarpaCarex dasycarpa
Plant genera in its diet records (23)
- Persicaria Seeds. 12 diet records. 10 native plants in Mississippi
- Schoenoplectus Seeds. 12 diet records. 8 native plants in Mississippi
- Carex Seeds. 9 diet records. 131 native plants in Mississippi
- Echinochloa Seeds. 8 diet records. 4 native plants in Mississippi
- Polygonum Seeds. 7 diet records. 1 native plant in Mississippi
- Setaria Seeds. 7 diet records. 3 native plants in Mississippi
- Bolboschoenus Seeds. 5 diet records. 1 native plant in Mississippi
- Lemna Leaves. 5 diet records. 6 native plants in Mississippi
- Bidens Seeds. 4 diet records. 8 native plants in Mississippi
- Digitaria Seeds. 4 diet records. 3 native plants in Mississippi
- Eleocharis Seeds. 4 diet records. 42 native plants in Mississippi
- Leersia Seeds. 4 diet records. 4 native plants in Mississippi
- Panicum Seeds. 4 diet records. 14 native plants in Mississippi
- Scirpus 3 diet records. 6 native plants in Mississippi
- Zizania Seeds. 3 diet records. 2 native plants in Mississippi
- Cenchrus 2 diet records. 5 native plants in Mississippi
- Cinna 2 diet records. 1 native plant in Mississippi
- Cyperus 2 diet records. 35 native plants in Mississippi
- Ludwigia Seeds. 2 diet records. 16 native plants in Mississippi
- Oryza 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Mississippi
- Paspalum 2 diet records. 16 native plants in Mississippi
- Potamogeton Leaves. 2 diet records. 9 native plants in Mississippi
- Urochloa 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Mississippi
Also found in its main habitats
Its main habitats in Mississippi, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Birds 158
- Black TernChlidonias niger
- Bronzed CowbirdMolothrus aeneus
- DickcisselSpiza americana
- Bell's VireoVireo bellii
- Black-bellied PloverPluvialis squatarola
- BobolinkDolichonyx oryzivorus
- Cackling GooseBranta hutchinsii
- Chestnut-sided WarblerDendroica pensylvanica
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- Northern Saw-whet OwlAegolius acadicus
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Rufous HummingbirdSelasphorus rufus
Plants 26
- Slender FimbryFimbristylis autumnalis
- Intermediate Spike RushEleocharis intermedia
- Purple SpikerushEleocharis atropurpurea
- Blue MistflowerConoclinium coelestinum
- BagpodGlottidium vesicarium
- Cyperus ochraceusCyperus ochraceus
- False DaisyEclipta prostrata
- Blunt Spike RushEleocharis obtusa
- Bristly SedgeCarex comosa
- Shortbeak BeaksedgeRhynchospora nitens
- Southern Marsh YellowcressRorippa teres
- Sensitive FernOnoclea sensibilis
Coastal dunes and beaches
Birds 127
- Black-throated Green WarblerDendroica virens
- Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatus
- Black-bellied PloverPluvialis squatarola
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Rock PigeonColumba livia
- Short-billed DowitcherLimnodromus griseus
- Horned LarkEremophila alpestris
- KilldeerCharadrius vociferus
- Nelson's Sharp-tailed SparrowAmmodramus nelsoni
- Purple MartinProgne subis
- Red KnotCalidris canutus
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
Plants 118
- Beach Morning-gloryIpomoea imperati
- Ipomoea cordatotriloba var. cordatotrilobaIpomoea cordatotriloba var. cordatotriloba
- Northern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia polygonifolia
- Southern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia bombensis
- Mound-lily YuccaYucca gloriosa
- Agalinis harperiAgalinis harperi
- Panicum amarum var. amarumPanicum amarum var. amarum
- Rough American Barnyard GrassEchinochloa muricata var. muricata
- Northern Seabeach OrachAtriplex mucronata
- Atriplex cristataAtriplex cristata
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Pinewoods FingergrassEustachys petraea
Coastal Plain seepage bogs
Birds 55
- Le Conte's SparrowAmmodramus leconteii
- King RailRallus elegans
- Yellow RailCoturnicops noveboracensis
- American CootFulica americana
- DunlinCalidris alpina
- Little GullHydrocoloeus minutus
- Sandhill CraneGrus canadensis
- Virginia RailRallus limicola
- Wilson's SnipeGallinago delicata
- Black-necked StiltHimantopus mexicanus
- Blue-winged TealAnas discors
- Least BitternIxobrychus exilis
Plants 61
- Southern MaleberryLyonia ligustrina var. foliosiflora
- Shortleaf SneezeweedHelenium brevifolium
- Coastal SedgeCarex exilis
- Coastal Plain BeaksedgeRhynchospora stenophylla
- Slender-fruit BeaksedgeRhynchospora leptocarpa
- Variableleaf SunflowerHelianthus heterophyllus
- LeConte's ThistleCirsium lecontei
- Savanna TickseedCoreopsis linifolia
- Pinebarren SedgeCarex turgescens
- Pine LilyLilium catesbaei
- Carphephorus pseudoliatrisCarphephorus pseudoliatris
- Spring Hill FlaxLinum macrocarpum
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)
- Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab) (CC0 1.0), diet records by plant genus





























































