Little Wood-Rail
Aramides mangle
The smallest wood-rail with a white throat and a rusty breast and belly. Note the green bill with a red base. Found in mangroves, swamps, and lagoons along the coast, but also migrates to interior dry-land areas to breed. Similar to Slaty-breasted Wood-Rail, which only occurs in woodlands and has a gray (not rusty) breast. Told from Gray-cowled Wood-Rail by its white throat rather than the gray throat seen on Gray-cowled Wood-Rail.
Identification
The little wood rail is 27 to 29 cm (11 to 11 in) long; one female weighed 164 g (5.8 oz). It is the smallest member of genus Aramides. The sexes are alike. They have a stout greenish bill with red at the base of the maxilla and red legs and feet. Adults have a gray head, neck, and upper back, and the rest of the back and their wings are olive brown to greenish olive. Their rump, tail, and undertail coverts are black. Their throat is white and their breast and belly rufous.
Taxonomy
The little wood rail is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Aramides mangle
- Authority
- (Spix, 1825)
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Aramides
Range and habitat
The little wood rail is found in Brazil from northeastern Pará south along the coast to São Paulo state and somewhat inland in the northeast. It has also been documented as a vagrant in French Guiana. The species mostly inhabits coastal swamps and lagoons including mangrove forest. Inland it is found in caatinga, a rather dry biome.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The little wood rail is resident along the coast. It occurs irregularly in the inland caatinga, movements which appear to be range extensions and contractions rather than true migration.<p>Almost nothing is known about the little wood rail's foraging behavior or diet. It has been observed probing mud and holding a crab.<p>The little wood rail has been recorded breeding between May and July in the caatinga and between October and November in the coastal southern part of its range. The few known nests were cups of sticks, grass, and dead leaves with clutches of five or six eggs. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.<p>The little wood rail's apparent song is a "[p]enetrating, loud 'pik-pik-pik' or 'pyok-pyok-pyok...'". Members of a pair often reply to each other at slightly different pitches.
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Chlorospingus inornatus
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Golden-spangled Piculet
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Tiny bird of forest canopy; best identified by stub-tailed appearance, conical bill, and behavior. Occurs in upper levels of rainforest and patches of tall forest in savanna regions. Often found with mixed-species flocks. Taps vigorously into fine dead twigs and vines, often hanging upside-down at the ends of branches. Similar to White-barred Piculet but occurs in different habitat and has finer barring on belly, giving an overall darker appearance. Most frequent call is two soft squeaks, the second lower-pitched.
Sahel Paradise-Whydah
Vidua orientalis
A nest parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of Green-winged Pytilias. As with other whydahs, breeding males are spectacular and bizarre, whereas non-breeding males and females are drab and inconspicuous. Breeding males are mostly black, with a rufous-and-buff collar and a long tail with an odd widened area at its base. Non-breeding males and females have a brownish back, pale underparts, and a dark bill. Generally scarce and local in dry thorn savanna. Breeding male similar to other paradise-whydahs, but has a shorter tail. Non-breeding male and female can be cautiously identified by their combination of a dark bill, dull (not whitish or red) legs, and simple facial pattern. Not very vocal, but does imitate Green-winged Pytilia vocalizations.
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