First Record of the Sora in the State of Hawaii

The Sora (Porzana carolina) is the most common and widely distributed member of the rail family in North America.It breeds as far north as Alaska and Canada's Northwest Territories and winters as far south as Guyana and central Peru (AOU 1998, Melvin and Gibbs 1996).Long-distance vagrancy and dispersal to remote lands is widespread in rails (Taylor 1998).This paper reports the first Sora confirmed in the Hawaiian Islands and briefly reviews other records of rails in the islands.While the occurrence of Porzana rails in Hawaii could be expected, on the basis of the fossil record, surprisingly, this report is the first documentation of a vagrant of this genus in the Hawaiian chain.On 4 September 2000, at 07:00, I found a single Sora at Keahole Point, 10.8 km northwest of Kailua-Kona on the island of Hawaii.The site was a 0.69-ha settling basin excavated from a recent lava flow.I observed the bird for 20 minutes at close range with a 56x Nikon ED fieldscope.The angle of the morning sun produced ideal lighting conditions.The bird was similar in size to an adjacent Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres).It foraged at the edge of a patch of makai sedge (Bolboschoenus maritimus) on the eastern exposure of a mudflat, cautiously weaving in and out of view, and retreated back into the sedges as the morning sun exposed the fiats.At 06:50 on 15 September Reginald E. and Susan David and I resighted the Sora about 15 m south of its original location.Reginald E. David videotaped the bird as it actively foraged, preened, twitched, and crept out over aquatic plants, strategically placing its feet and long toes to keep afloat, typical Sora behavior.It fed on whole white egg sacs (later identified as those of Trichocorixa reticulata, water boatman) attached to the undersides of submerged makai sedge leaves and rootstocks, also on small spiders, moths, and likely midges and aquatic beetles.At 07:15 on 22 September Anthony J. McCafferty and I observed the Sora again in the same area.The bird was last seen actively foraging on a mudfiat at the edge of a patch of swollen fingergrass (Chloris barbata).We noted no bands or injuries and heard no vocalizations.The plumage characteristics of this bird indicate an adult Sora in definitive basic plumage with freshly molted wing feathers and some unusual markings (Figure 1).Peter Pyle of Point Reyes Bird Observatory in California made the species, age, and plumage determinations from the videotape in the Hawaii Rare Bird Photo file at Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu (HRBP VT02).The Eurasian rails were ruled out mainly because of the larger size and amount of black on the face of the Kona bird.Both the Little Crake (P.parva) and Baillon's Crake (P.pusilla) lack black on the face and have black and white barred undertail coverts.The Spotted Crake (P.porzana) differs from Sora in its overall spotted appearance and red at the base of the bill (Taylor 1998).The eye color and lack of juvenal plumage on the Kona bird identified it as an adult.The iris is red in the adult Sora, whereas it is brown in a firstfall bird.

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