Fairly small rail; short yellow bill, black face, and gray neck distinctive. Found in marshes with grasses or reeds; generally shy but often seen foraging at the edge of shallow water. Buffy juvenile often mistaken for much more secretive Yellow Rail; note different back pattern and the fact that if you see the bird well enough to actually note the back pattern, it is probably not a Yellow Rail. Common call is a descending high-pitched whinny; also gives a whistled “per-WEE” call somewhat like spring peeper but clearer and consistently two parted.
While walking the Marsh boardwalk trail at Point Pelee National Park in exploration of some amazing wildlife we stopped for a moment to look around and right below us was a Sora, which is a small rail. We took a few pictures and recorded a short video. We’ve never seen a Sora before, or heard of it. I didn’t even know what a rail bird was. A woman nearby told us it was a pretty rare bird to just stumble upon. We are new to birding and they seem to be flocking to us at this point. Really cool to see a bird like this on our point pelee walk, we watched it for a while. It seems to us that tourism windsor essex does a good job at promoting tourism on pelee island and the rest of essex county. We will be returning to the area to enjoy the marsh boardwalk trail and others in the area.