Spotted Rail
Pardirallus maculatus
Elusive, boldly patterned, fairly large rail of fresh marshes in tropical lowlands. Usually elusive, but sometimes walks around in the open at any time of day. No similar species if seen well. Note the brightly colored bill and legs and boldly spotted and barred black-and-white plumage.
Identification
The spotted rail is 25 to 28 cm (9.8 to 11.0 in) long and weighs 130 to 220 g (4.6 to 7.8 oz); females are slightly smaller than males. The sexes are alike. They have a long greenish bill with a red spot at the base of the mandible and pinkish legs. Both subspecies have a blackish head with a red eye, black and brown upperparts, and black underparts with white streaks and spots. The nominate subspecies P. m. maculatus has white streaks on its upperparts and P. m. insolitus white spots.
Taxonomy
The spotted rail was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in French Guiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Rallus maculatus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The spotted rail is now placed in the genus Pardirallus that was erected by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1856. The generic name combines the Ancient Greek pardos meaning "leopard" with the genus Rallus. The specific epithet maculatus is Latin for "spotted" or "blotched"<p>Two subspecies are recognized:
- Scientific name
- Pardirallus maculatus
- Authority
- (Boddaert, 1783)
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Pardirallus
Range and habitat
the subspecies P. m. insolitus of the spotted rail is found from Mexico to Costa Rica. The nominate subspecies is found in Cuba, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Jamaica, and every mainland South American country except Guyana (though in Chile only as a vagrant to the Juan Fernández Islands). The species also occurs in Panama but the subspecies there is not known. Its distribution in Mexico, Central America, and much of South America is local rather than continuous. In addition to Chile, it has occurred as a vagrant in Trinidad and the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and Texas.<p>The spotted rail inhabits wet landscapes including marshes, swamps, rice fields, and wet grasslands. It requires dense cover.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The spotted rail has no pattern of movement, though it is known to move locally in response to changing water levels or drought, and has documented vagrancy.<p>The spotted rail forages in shallow water or along the water's edge. It usually stays in cover but at dawn and dusk may feed in more open areas. Its diet includes earthworms, adult and larval insects and other invertebrates, and also small fish and pondweed (Potamogeton epihydrus).<p>The spotted rail's breeding season varies widely across its range. It appears to be territorial during the breeding season. It makes a cup or bowl nest of grass or dead rushes in vegetation near the ground and often above shallow water. The clutch size is two to seven eggs. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.<p>The spotted rail makes a "[l]oud, repeated, rasping, groaning screech, usually preceded by grunt or pop, 'g'reech' or 'pum-kreep'" that is thought to be a territorial or aggressive call. It also makes "an accelerating series of deep, gruff, pumping notes" and a "sharp, repeated 'gek'." It sometimes calls at night.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Ruddy Shelduck
Tadorna ferruginea
Striking and distinctive gooselike duck. Plumage bright ruddy overall with contrasting pale creamy head and neck; male has narrow black neck ring. Big white forewing patches striking in flight. Breeds in southeastern Europe and Central Asia, winters in South Asia. Often found around saline lakes; also reservoirs and agricultural fields. Escapees from waterfowl collections occasionally seen free-flying outside of native range.
Ruddy Cuckoo-Dove
Macropygia emiliana
Shy and unobtrusive dove of lowland and foothill forests, woodlands, and wooded plantations. Rusty brown overall, with a paler, more gingery head. Compare with similar, but distinctly smaller, Little Cuckoo-Dove, which has a paler, buffier chest, and is generally also more tolerant of cultivated habitats. Like many other cuckoo-doves, typically forages quietly in the middle to lower levels of forest, occasionally emerging out into the open to rest or forage. Gives a series of cooing hoots, often with a few quiet connecting notes in between (“WHOOhuhuWHOOhuhuWHOO”), though the latter may be difficult to hear at a distance. Also a more pronounced two-part “huWOO, huWOO.”
Least Seedsnipe
Thinocorus rumicivorus
Very small but stocky, quail-like bird of Patagonian steppe, sandy and stony plains in the Andes, coastal dunes, and deserts. Found in pairs or small groups; locally large flocks in nonbreeding season. Male has hooting song given from low mounds or fence posts, and sometimes during display flight. Flight is strong and fast; flushes with loud bleating chatters. Similar Gray-breasted Seedsnipe is larger, favors rockier Andean habitats, and has plain gray breast without diagnostic black Y pattern present on male Least Seedsnipes.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.