Black Crake
Zapornia flavirostra
A small, pudgy, blackish waterbird with reddish eyes, a yellowish bill, and diagnostic pink-red legs. The immature is browner, with duller legs and bill. It scuttles along the edges of swamps and other water bodies, preferring reedbeds and emergent vegetation to forage on, sometimes quite boldly. Like most crakes, it walks tentatively with its head lowered, picking and probing for insects, plant matter, and other food. The distinctive call is an odd, wheezy bubbling and chattering “cheeew-t-t-t-t treeew, t-t-t-t-t-treew”.
Identification
The adult black crake is 19–23 cm (7.5–9.1 in) long with a short tail and long toes. As its name implies, the adult has mainly black plumage, with a brown olive tone on the wings and upperparts which is rarely detectable in the field. The eye is red, the bill is yellow (hence the flavirostra of the binomial name), and the legs and feet are red, duller when not breeding.<p>The sexes are similar, but the male is slightly larger. Most males, but only 10% of females, have a hooked upper mandible. The immature bird has brown upperparts and a dark grey head and underparts. Its bill is greenish yellow, and its feet and legs are dull red. The downy chicks are black, as with all rails.<p>The main call of the black crake is a duet, starting with a throaty chattering krrrok-kraaaa. The response is a dove-like cooing coo-crr-COO.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Zapornia flavirostra
- Authority
- (Swainson, 1837)
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Zapornia
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The habitat of this common to abundant species is freshwater marshes of all types, as long as there is some vegetation to provide cover. Many rails are very secretive, but the black crake is often seen out in the open. It has benefited from human activity in the form of deforestation, and is rarely hunted because of its unpalatable flesh.<p>The black crake is extremely aggressive when breeding and will attack birds of many species, but especially other rails. It will attack and kill rails of species as large as itself.<p>The nest is a deep, neat bowl made from wetland plants and built by both sexes in marsh vegetation or on the ground in a dry location. The nest is also sometimes constructed up to 3 m (9.8 ft) high in a bush.<p>The two to six, usually three, eggs are cream or white, and spotted with brown or chestnut. Both parents, sometimes assisted by the young from previous broods, incubate for 13–19 days to hatching. The precocial chicks leave the nest in 1–3 days, but are fed by parents and helpers for several weeks. They can fly by 5–6 weeks, and are independent at 6–12 weeks.<p>The black crake is diurnal, and this confiding bird will feed close to humans and often in the open. It eats a wide range of invertebrates, small fish, frogs and seeds. It will take the eggs of birds and scavenge on carcasses. It will forage on the ground or climb reeds to find prey including flying insects.<p>This species will perch on hippopotamuses and warthogs and remove parasites.
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Otus socotranus
A small, compact, pale gray owl with tiny ear tufts. Found on the island of Socotra, where it inhabits arid habitats with trees, including palms. Most often detected by voice: two or three quiet introductory “phut” notes followed by a resonant “prreuup”, often repeating, sometimes for long periods. This is the only small owl known from Socotra, though the migratory Eurasian Scops-Owl might occur. Best distinguished by voice, though Socotra Scops-Owl is smaller and paler, with smaller ear tufts.
Sulawesi Thrush
Turdus turdoides
A rather large olive-brown thrush with conspicuous orange-yellow legs and bill, a bold black brow, and an obvious yellow eye-ring. Juveniles are scaled below. Found in montane forest, foraging both on the ground and high in the understory, sometimes joining mixed-species flocks. Confined to Sulawesi, where distinguished from Geomalia and Island Thrush by presence of black brow and lack of rufous belly. Sulawesi Thrush is also shorter-tailed than Geomalia. Song is typical of thrushes: a rich, melodious, mournful song with fluty cadences. Also gives chattering calls and a high, weak “tsip.”
White-lored Tyrannulet
Ornithion inerme
Small flycatcher of rainforest canopy. Olive with bright white or buffy wing bars and a gray head. Black eye line with white extending from the base of the bill to above and behind the eye. Bold wing bars help distinguish it from similar flycatchers; also, note darker olive plumage and clean facial pattern. Forages singly or in pairs in the canopy of mature rainforest, and, like many rainforest tyrannulets, can be quite inconspicuous. Listen for its voice, a slightly accelerating series of 4-5 high whistles: “pwee, pwee, pwee-pee.”
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