Sora Out of Water

Sora (Porzana carolina) [Image from an Internet source]

This morning, two of Pennypack's best birders and nature photographers, Harris Brown and Fran Ventura, stopped in the office after a morning photo shoot to report that they had found and rescued a Sora (Porzana carolina) on a trail through the tall native grasslands on Raytharn Farm.  The Sora (a type of rail) was alive (though clearly injured or sick); Harris and Fran planned to take it to the Aark wildlife rehabilitation facility in Chalfont to see if it could be saved.

Two years ago, Pennypack birder Michael Grubb found a Sora on another of the Raytharn Farm grassland trails, but that bird was dead. 

I have no idea why a fairly uncommon bird almost always associated with marshes would be found high and dry in the prairie-like grasslands we have established in parts of the Pennypack Preserve.  Nor do I have any idea why these birds are in bad shape.  It's great that they're here, but not if the preserve is acting as a "sink" in which the birds fall victim to predators or disease.

 

Posted by David Robertson

Executive Director