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
Ryukyu Minivet
Pericrocotus tegimae
Medium-sized, slender songbird, dark above, white below; rather large for a minivet. Male has white forecrown and brow, lacking in female. In both sexes, white of breast curves up behind black ear coverts, producing a distinctive head pattern. Both also show dusky patches on the sides of the breast that make a “vested” appearance. Inhabits lowland to montane forests, where typically forages in small flocks. Gives a dry trilling call, often in flight.
Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe
Attagis gayi
Chunky, generally uncommon, rather grouselike bird of the high Andes. Found in pairs or small groups on bogs, stony slopes, and in bleak moorland of puna and páramo zones. Lacey “chainmail” pattern to upperparts is beautifully cryptic, and birds sometimes freeze when alarmed making them more difficult to see. No similar species in range; note the short stout bill and rusty underparts. Flight strong and fast, and flushes with loud shrieking choruses.
Pacific Flatbill
Rhynchocyclus pacificus
Shy and inconspicuous flycatcher of lowland and foothill rainforest in western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. Plumage is mostly olive with yellowish streaks on underparts, gray eyering, and brown patches in wings. Bill is very wide at the base, though this may not be evident when the bird is seen from the side. Similar to Fulvous-breasted Flatbill, but Pacific lacks tawny breast and is usually found at lower elevations. Also similar to Olivaceous Flatbill, but has brown (not yellow) in the wings. Typically found alone or in pairs at fairly low levels inside the forest, and sometimes joins mixed-species flocks.
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