Band-bellied Crake
Zapornia paykullii
Skulky and difficult to see, this medium-sized crake is often detected through its unique song, a hollow hoot-knocking that can be likened to a wood rattle or rapidfire tapping on a tiny high-pitched drum. Favors extremely well-vegetated marsh margins, often in areas with bushes and short trees, and sometimes near cultivation. If seen well, note dull gray-brown back, orange face, throat, and chest, and black-and-white striped sides. Ruddy-breasted Crake can be very similar, but note Band-bellied’s grayer back, duller red legs, more extensive white barring on the sides, and white-striped coverts (not always visible).
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Zapornia paykullii
- Authority
- (Ljungh, 1813)
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Zapornia
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- PAL : e Siberia, Korea and ne China
- Non-breeding range
- to se Asia and Greater Sundas
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Plain-tailed Wren
Pheugopedius euophrys
Bamboo-loving wren of the Andes known for its beautiful song duets. Plumage and song vary geographically. All birds are brown and gray overall with black and white face and mustache stripes. In most of Ecuador and in southwestern Colombia, it has black spots or speckles on its breast. Elsewhere it lacks breast markings and has a black crown. Pairs skulk in dense bamboo, and their loud, whistled song duets carry over long distances.
Tongan Megapode
Megapodius pritchardii
A plump, mostly ground-dwelling bird with long yellowish legs and a dark gray body with slightly browner wash on the wings and back. Head mostly dark gray, with bright orange beak and whitish crest. Good views may show blood-red bare skin around the eye and throat. Found in mature woodland with open understory. Nests on crater lake islands. Resident, with no record of vagrancy. Very vocal, most frequently heard in groups giving chorus of loud piping whistles and shrill cries. Calls are usually a staccato one-note whistle. Unmistakable, as it is the only scrubfowl in its range.
Black-collared Apalis
Oreolais pulcher
A slim, pretty, long-tailed member of the cisticola family with gray upperparts and mostly white underparts, a black chest band, and rufous flanks. Found in the understory and along the edges of montane forest. Usually in pairs or small groups, readily joining mixed flocks. Not known to overlap in range with Rwenzori Apalis, and differs by having a white rather than buffy throat, and white in the outer tail. Has a black chest band like Black-capped Apalis, but separated by many details, including the gray back and rufous flanks. Vocalizations include a ringing “svink” and a lower “veet” which are often given in duet by a pair.
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