Restricted to thick swampy areas, the Sora is heard much more often than seen. However, it regularly emerges from the aquatic vegetation at dawn and dusk as it walks jerkily along the edge of the water with its tail flicking up in the air. This species is a member of the family of waterbirds called rails, and because they are so thin, they can walk between impossibly narrow places - thus the term \skinny as a rail.\ The Sora has a chicken-like bill it uses to pick up seeds and occasionally catch insects and other small aquatic animals. Its nest is a basket of dried plant material and suspended under arching vegetation just above the water level in marshy areas and wet meadows.

The four-digit banding code is SORA.