Evidence of conspecific nest parasitism and egg discrimination in the sora

Conspecific nest parasitism (CNP) is relatively frequent among precocial species and several hypotheses for this patter have been suggested (Rohwer and Freeman 1989, Lyon and Eadie 1991, Sorenson 1992). I report here observations made at the nest of a Sora, Porzana carolina, which suggest both the occurrence of CNP as well as very fine egg discrimination in this species.

Sorenson, M. D., The Condor 97:819-821