A common small brown and grey American crake (bird), frequenting marshes.
Porzana carolina, family Rallidae.
I practiced some birding by ear, hearing but not seeing a sora rail and eastern wood pewee, plus the bird that says ‘cow cat!’...
It reminded me of a story Bud Tordoff told me about a male peregrine falcon who was good at skimming right on top of the water and would bring back sora and pied-billed grebes.
Origin
Early 18th century: probably from an American Indian language.