Rufous-necked Wood-Rail
Aramides axillaris
Elusive, chickenlike rail of mangroves, less often occurs in freshwater marshes. Slightly smaller than a Common Gallinule. Usually seen walking among mangrove roots, at times coming out in the open on muddy flats. Like most rails, can be trusting if you watch quietly and don’t move. Note bright rusty neck and breast, black flanks and undertail coverts, long yellowish bill, and pink legs (often sullied by mud).
Identification
The rufous-necked wood rail is 29 to 33 cm (11 to 13 in) long and weighs about 300 to 325 g (11 to 11 oz). The sexes are alike. They have long, stout, yellow-green bills and red legs and feet. Adults' head, neck, and breast are rufous brown. Their nape and upper back are gray and the rest of the back olive brown to greenish olive. Their wings are greenish olive and chestnut. Their rump, tail, flanks, and undertail coverts are black. Their throat is white and their belly grayish brown. Juveniles are much duller overall. Their upperparts are like the adults' but duller. Their face, chin, and upper neck are buffy brown to dirty white with a cinnamon wash. Their lower flanks and undertail coverts are deep brownish olive and the rest of their underparts buffy brown with an ochre cinnamon wash.
Taxonomy
The rufous-necked wood rail is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Aramides axillaris
- Authority
- Lawrence, 1863
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Aramides
Range and habitat
The rufous-necked wood rail is found in Mexico on the Pacific coast and the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula and generally (though discontinuously) along both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Central America. In South America it is found along the Pacific coast discontinuously from Colombia through Ecuador to northern Peru, along the Caribbean coast from Colombia through Venezuela and the Guianas, and on Trinidad. In addition, a vagrant spent much of July 2013 at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. Many bird enthusiasts and watchers traveled to the state to view it.<p>The rufous-necked wood rail was long thought to be primarily a coastal species, and in parts of its range is known only from mangrove forest. However, a growing number of inland sightings in deciduous, humid, and montane forest as high as 1,400 m (4,600 ft) are suggestive of elevational migration, with mangroves being only winter habitat.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The rufous-necked wood rail has generally been considered a year-round resident throughout its range. However, there is strong evidence of seasonal elevational movements at least in Central America and perhaps western South America.<p>The rufous-necked wood rail generally forages at morning and evening twilight. Though it is generally a secretive bird, when foraging it will often move several meters from cover onto open mudflats and stream banks. Its primary prey is crabs and it also takes other aquatic invertebrates.<p>The rufous-necked wood rail's breeding biology is not well known. Its breeding season appears to vary geographically. Breeding records are few, and some of them are from inland forests. Two nests were described by one author as an open bowl made of twigs and lined with weed stems and both dead and green leaves. They were placed in a small tree and on a stump and both contained five eggs.<p>The rufous-necked wood rail's song has been described as "loud, irregularly paced kip and kow notes, e.g., kip-kow-kip, kow-kip-kow, kip-kowkip-kow, kow, kow, kow-kip". Pairs sing in duet "a strident series of musical notes...CHI burr... CHI burr... CHI burr....". They mostly sing at dusk and dawn but also at night. The species also makes "a cluck and kik in alarm".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Corypha kidepoensis
A large lark with a long, strong bill and a long tail. Back is scaly-looking and underparts pale, with a black mark on the side of the breast. The wings show rufous in flight. Found locally in dry and open savanna. Similar to Red-winged Lark, from which it was recently split, but does not overlap in range. The song is a variable but repetitive mix of whistled notes and imitations of other species, usually given from the top of a bush, but sometimes in flight.
Chestnut-headed Bee-eater
Merops leschenaulti
Beautiful, dainty bee-eater with a bright reddish head and yellow throat. Dark “necktie” most noticeable when in flight overhead. Inhabits forest edge, wooded clearings, and open areas with clusters of trees; often uses exposed perches. Some populations undertake regional movements, vacating breeding grounds after the monsoons pass. Often gives bright chirrupy calls.
Rusty-fronted Tody-Flycatcher
Poecilotriccus latirostris
Small, drab flycatcher of dense undergrowth in humid lowlands. Big-headed with a short tail; grayish tan overall with a reddish wash near the base of the bill and yellow edges to wing feathers. Found in dense vegetation around forest edges, bamboo thickets, riverside vegetation, and agricultural areas, where it can locally be quite common, but often difficult to see. Gives stuttered trills of musical notes, “ti-trrrrrr” and a solid chip note, “tuck.”
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