Red-necked Crake
Rallina tricolor
Secretive crake of rainforest habitats where there is thick cover alongside a stream or pool. Usually shy, but patient observation at dusk may reward viewers with a sighting. Adult dark olive-brown with rich chestnut head and chest, greenish-yellow bill, black-and-white banded undertail, and red legs. Juvenile mostly dusky. Gives an accelerating sequence of short repeated squawks and squeaks, as well as slower clicks.
Identification
The red-necked crake is a large crake (length 25 cm, wingspan 40 cm, weight 200 g). Its head, neck and breast are red-brown, with a paler version of that color on the throat. The upperparts are grey-brown, while the underparts are grey-brown with pale barring. The underwing is barred black and white, the bill green, and the legs grey-brown.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Rallina tricolor
- Authority
- Gray, GR, 1858
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Rallina
Range and habitat
Red-necked crakes live in the Moluccas, Lesser Sundas, New Guinea lowlands and adjacent islands, and north-eastern Australia. They are found in tropical rainforests and dense vegetation close to permanent wetlands.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The bird's diet consists of amphibians, aquatic invertebrates, crustaceans and molluscs.<p>The bird rests on or close to ground in dense vegetation. It lays clutches of 3-5 dull-white eggs, the incubation periods of which are around 20 days. The chicks emerge covered in black down, precocial and nidifugous.<p>The crake makes repetitive clicking calls and soft grunts.
Conservation
With a large range and no evidence of significant decline, this species is assessed as being of least concern. The species is little studied and seldom seen due to its secretive nature, but appears to be locally common in New Guinea. In Australia it has suffered declines due to habitat loss.
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Violet-eared Waxbill
Granatina granatina
A stunning long-tailed waxbill with a red bill, mauve cheeks, and a blue rump. The underparts are vibrant chestnut in the male and cream-buff in the female. Pairs are resident in arid thorn savanna and drier woodlands, where they forage on the ground and lower layers of scrub, often in the company of other finches. The species can be secretive, flying quite a distance when flushed. The Black-faced Waxbill is dark like Violet-eared Waxbill, but it has a red rump, a dark mask, and barred wings. The Purple Grenadier lacks mauve cheeks, and its range does not overlap.
Longuemare's Sunangel
Heliangelus clarisse
Medium-sized cloud forest hummingbird found in the eastern Andes and Perijá mountains of Colombia as well as adjacent border regions of Venezuela. Male has a glittering violet or purple throat bordered below by a narrow white crescent. Female’s throat is mottled green and brown and lacks iridescence. Some males mostly lack the white throat crescent and can look very similar to Tourmaline Sunangel, which overlaps in the eastern Andes of Colombia, but Longuemare’s has a slight buffy tinge to his belly. Differs from Orange-throated Sunangel by throat color and white (not buff) neck band. Usually seen foraging in clearings or at forest edge, and visits feeders in some areas. Formerly considered a subspecies of Amethyst-throated Sunangel.
Musk Lorikeet
Trichoglossus concinnus
Medium-sized bright green and yellow lorikeet with red and blue facial markings. Note red cheek patch behind eye. Feeds in flowering eucalypt trees on pollen and nectar, however, also eats insects and fruit. Nomadic; moves in response to flowering eucalypts.
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