Uniform Crake
Amaurolimnas concolor
Larger than most crakes. Found in wet forests instead of marshes. Very difficult to see as it creeps through dense understory. Far more easily heard: a series of upslurred whistled notes. Look for a brown bird with richer rufous underparts, a dull greenish-yellowish bill, and reddish legs. Favors dense wet forest or thickets, often but not always near a swamp or stream.
Identification
The uniform crake is 20 to 23 cm (7.9 to 9.1 in) long and weighs about 95 to 130 g (3.4 to 4.6 oz). The sexes are alike. They have a medium length yellowish green bill, a red eye, and pinkish red legs and feet. A. c. guatemalensis is the larger of the two living subspecies; it has olivaceous brown upperparts and brown underparts. A. c. castaneus is also olivaceous brown above, but has rufous brown underparts.
Taxonomy
The uniform crake was first described in genus Rallus and at various times since then placed in genera Aramides and Laterallus before its present Amaurolimnas. It is the only member of that genus and has two extant subspecies, A. c. guatemalensis and A. c. castaneus. The nominate subspecies, the Jamaican wood rail (A. c. concolor), which was endemic to Jamaica, is extinct.
- Scientific name
- Amaurolimnas concolor
- Authority
- (Gosse, 1847)
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Amaurolimnas
Range and habitat
The uniform crake has a highly disjunct distribution. Subspecies A. c. guatemalensis is found from Veracruz and Oaxaca in southern Mexico through Central America (except El Salvador) and western Colombia into northwestern Ecuador. A. c. castaneus is found in northern Venezuela, the Guianas, several separate areas of Brazil both inland and coastal, eastern Ecuador and Peru, and locally in Bolivia. It inhabits a variety of wet to almost dry landscapes including wooded swamps, flooded forest, heavily vegetated ravines and streams, and dense vegetation on the edges of secondary forest and cultivated areas. In elevation it ranges from sea level to about 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The movements of the uniform crake, if any, are not known.<p>The uniform crake mostly forages in cover, where it searches leaf litter and other detritus and digs in mud with its bill. Its diet includes earthworms, insects and spiders, small amphibians and lizards, seeds, and berries.<p>The uniform crake's breeding season is essentially unknown; in Costa Rica it does include July. It is thought to be territorial in the breeding season. One nest in Costa Rica was in a swamp forest near a stream. It was a cup made of leaves in the top of a vine-covered stump and contained four eggs.<p>The uniform crake's song is a "series of 6–20 upslurred 'tooee' whistles". Pairs maintain contact with "clear, but not loud, whistled 'tooo' notes". The species' alarm call is "a sharp, nasal 'kek'".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Eurasian Kestrel
Falco tinnunculus
Small falcon with distinctive male plumage: gray head, rusty back, gray tail with broad black tip. Female is brownish above, with barring on the back, wings, and tail. Note rather pointed wingtips (unlike rounded wings of Accipiter hawks), and distinct dark spotting on the breast. Inhabits open and lightly wooded country, farmlands, grasslands, and heathlands; often seen over grassy areas beside roads and at airports. Perches on wires and posts, and typically hunts by hovering, at times fairly high overhead. Very similar to Lesser Kestrel.
Great Rufous Woodcreeper
Xiphocolaptes major
Very large woodcreeper with a massive, robust bill. Plumage is rather uniformly cinnamon with some faint streaking on the breast. Note the black lores. Found in dry forest, woodland, and gallery forest. Sings a slightly descending series of double notes: “hick-up, hick-up, hick-up.” Other woodcreepers within its range are much smaller, with streaked or spotted plumage.
Eye-ringed Flatbill
Rhynchocyclus brevirostris
Rather large headed and overall greenish flycatcher of humid tropical and subtropical forest; infrequently encountered. Inconspicuous, usually perching rather upright and quietly at mid-levels in the forest interior, rarely at edges; does not flick its wings or tail. Plumage relatively distinctive, with a contrasting, complete whitish eyering set in a pale grayish face. Lacks any distinct pale wingbars. Call is a high, shrill, insect-like note that does not draw attention.
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