Dot-winged Crake
Laterallus spilopterus
Small dark crake; brown above, speckled black and gray below, with black-and-white bars on the belly and vent. Occurs in both salt and freshwater marshes and damp grasslands. The song is a double-noted “tchip-pruu,” often repeated. Common call is a thin, downslurred "pwup."
Identification
The dot-winged crake is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long. The sexes are alike. Their upperparts are dark olive brown with blackish streaks and some white markings on the flight feathers. Their face and breast are dark gray and their vent area and undertail coverts are barred black and white.
Taxonomy
The dot-winged crake was originally described in genus Porzana. However, phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA by Garcia et al. (2014) placed it in the predominantly South American clade Laterallus. Stervander et al. (2019) demonstrated that it is the sister species of the world's smallest flightless bird, the Inaccessible Island rail Laterallus rogersi (previously placed in the monotypic genus Atlantisia) and should bear the binomial Laterallus spilopterus, which was supported by Kirchman et al. (2021).<p>As of late 2022, the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) calls the dot-winged crake Laterallus spiloptera, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World calls it Laterallus spilopterus, and the Clements taxonomy and the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (SACC) call it Porzana spiloptera.<p>The worldwide taxonomic systems agree that the species is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Laterallus spilopterus
- Authority
- (Durnford, 1877)
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Laterallus
Range and habitat
The dot-winged crake's distribution is unsettled. The IOC and Clements place it in southern Uruguay and northern Argentina. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World adds Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, and the SACC adds Chile to those three countries. Cornell's eBird has records in all four countries.<p>The dot-winged crake inhabits freshwater and brackish waters and some drier landscapes as well. It is found in freshwater and tidal marshes, swamps, wet meadows, grasslands, and riparian scrub.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
No movements are known for the dot-winged crake.<p>The dot-winged crake feeds on insects, seeds, and marsh vegetation. Its foraging technique has not been documented.<p>A dot-winged crake nest was discovered near Buenos Aires but no details of it or any other aspects of the species' breeding biology are known.<p>The dot-winged crake's song is " a high note followed by a lower-pitched rattle 'kee-krrrrr'" that is repeated several times. Its calls include "a mellow soft 'pwup' and a scolding rattle."
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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