Speckled Rail
Laterallus notatus
Very rare and poorly known, but likely widely overlooked, small rail of the southern cone from SE Brazil to central Argentina. Its secretive nature makes it difficult to understand its habitat and habits, but timing of records, combined with records from the middle of downtown Buenos Aires and São Paolo, suggest it is at least somewhat migratory.
Identification
The speckled rail is 13 to 14 cm (5.1 to 5.5 in) long and weighs about 30 g (1.1 oz). The sexes are alike. Adults have very dark brown plumage with white spots on their upperparts and white bars on their underparts.
Taxonomy
The speckled rail shares genus Coturnicops with the yellow rail (C. noveboracensis) of North America and Swinhoe's rail (C. exquisitus) of eastern Asia. It is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Laterallus notatus
- Authority
- (Gould, 1841)
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Laterallus
Range and habitat
The speckled rail's core range is southern Paraguay, southern Brazil, eastern Argentina, and Uruguay. It is also found in Guyana and Venezuela and as a vagrant in Colombia. Undocumented sight records in Bolivia and the Falkland Islands lead the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (SACC) to class it as hypothetical in those countries. It primarily inhabits dense marshes, swamps, grassy savanna, and rice and alfalfa fields but is also found in the edges of humid woodland. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 1,500 m (4,900 ft).
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Some authors propose that the speckled rail is migratory, breeding in the south and wintering in the north. However, there are many records of birds in Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay during the austral winter, and birds in breeding condition have been noted in Venezuela. The SACC does not have breeding records from Guyana but notes it as breeding in the four countries of its core range and in Venezuela.<p>Almost nothing is known about the speckled rail's foraging technique or diet. The latter is known to include grass seeds and arthropods.<p>The speckled rail's breeding season is mostly unknown; in the south it appears to include December and in Venezuela August. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.<p>As of late 2022 xeno-canto had no recordings of speckled rail vocalizations and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library had only two. The species has a "kooweee-cack" call, a whistled "keeee" alarm call, and a high "kyu" whose purpose is unknown.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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