Silver-eared Mesia

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”.

Often draws attention to its presence by its song: an ascending sequence of “kwa” notes, similar to Green-backed Trogon, but faster. Two subspecies occur in Brazil, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina with limited geographical overlap that vary in the color of the breast and eyering; the southern one has a red belly and eyering, while the northern one has a yellow belly and eyering. The males of both subspecies have a violet-blue head and breast, a green back, and a white undertail. Females have a dull gray breast and the undertail is gray with white tips. Found in the middle to upper levels of forests and woodlands.

Small, retiring bird, gray above and white below with an unbarred cinnamon vent. Occurs in a few remaining fragments of humid forest with dense understory, often near water, across a very restricted range. The song is a low trill, repeated continually.