AURIEL M.V. FOURNIER, , DOREEN C. MENGEL, EDWARD E. GBUR, and DAVID G. KREMENTZ. 2017. The timing of autumn sora (Porzana carolina) migration. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 129:765-770.
Abstract
The lack of phenology information for Sora (Porzana carolina) during autumn limits wetland management decisions and future research. We performed nocturnal distance sampling based ATV surveys across thirteen state and federal managed wetlands in Missouri, USA from 2012-2014 and estimated Sora abundance using hierarchical distance sampling models. We detected Sora migration earlier than previous work in Missouri and found yearly variation in the arrival date and distribution of Sora migration across the three years. On average, Sora migration in Missouri began in early August, peaked on 23 September, and continued through late October. With this information, wetland managers should be able to better time flooding schedules to meet the needs of Sora and other marshbirds during autumn migration.