Brown Wood-Rail
Aramides wolfi
Large, chicken-like bird of humid lowland and foothill forest in western Ecuador and western Colombia. Brown with a gray head, yellow bill, and pink legs. Similar to Gray-cowled Wood-Rail but gray restricted to head. This rare and threatened species prefers swampy areas such as stream edges and mangroves, and is typically encountered in pairs. Shy and very hard to see. Usually first detected by it song, a very long, rollicking series of notes, often given by both members of the pair.
Identification
The brown wood rail is 33 to 36 cm (13 to 14 in) long. The sexes are alike. Adults have a yellow-green bill, a red eye, and pink legs and feet. Their head is ashy gray with a yellow spot on the forehead and a pale throat. Their tail, flanks, and belly are black and the rest of their body is chestnut to warm brown. Immatures and juveniles have not been described.<p>The brown wood rail's specific epithet commemorates the German naturalist Theodor Wolf.[citation needed]
Taxonomy
The brown wood rail is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Aramides wolfi
- Authority
- Berlepsch & Taczanowski, 1884
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Aramides
Range and habitat
The brown wood rail is patchily distributed in western Colombia and western Ecuador. A single 1977 report from Peru was retracted in 2011 and the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society does not recognize it. It inhabits a variety of wet and dry landscapes including mangroves, freshwater marsh, swampy woodland, river bottoms, and mature and secondary forest. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 900 m (3,000 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The brown wood rail appears to be a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>Nothing is known about the brown wood rail's foraging methods or diet.<p>The brown wood rail's breeding season in Ecuador spans at least February to April. Nests there were bulk open cups made of large dead leaves and bits of vine. Their placement varied, being on stumps, on branch or vine tangles, and in understory shrubs between 1.2 and 2.6 m (4 and 9 ft) above the ground. The clutch size was two to four eggs and the incubation period was at least 19 days.<p>One call of the brown wood rail is a repeated "kui-co-mui".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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