Porzana carolina

Primarily shallow freshwater emergent wetlands (e.g., marshes of cattail, sedge, blue-joint, or bulrush), less frequently in bogs, fens, wet meadows, and flooded fields, sometimes foraging on open mudflats adjacent to marshy habitat. Also occurs locally in swamps, along slough borders, and in mangroves. Can use very small marshes (e.g., 4 nests have been found in a half-acre marsh) (see Brewer et al. 1991). Nonbreeding: also in coastal salt marshes; roosts in cattails or other dense vegetation. In northern wetlands and midle-southern Atlantic coastal wetlands, wild rice provides habitat during migration (Fannucchi et al. 1986).

Nests about 15 cm above water level in marsh vegetation, often near open water. Nest is anchored to emergent plants or sometimes placed on top of a mound (Cogswell 1977). In Michigan, nests most often were over water 10-15 cm deep (see Brewer et al. 1991).

BREEDING: Home range size averaged 0.19 ha during brood-rearing (Johnson and Dinsmore 1985). NON-BREEDING: Roosts communally. Home range averaged 0.78 hectares in Arizona during winter (Conway 1990).

Clutch size is 6-18 (commonly 10-12). Incubation, by both sexes, lasts 18-20 days. In the upper Midwest, most hatch in late May or early June. Young are tended by both parents, leave nest within 1-2 days but may return at night for brooding. Cornell Nest Record Program data indicate a nest success rate of 0.53 (Conway et al. 1994). Females may lay eggs in the nests of conspecifics; females may be able to recognize eggs that are not their own (see Sorenson 1995, Condor 97:819-821).