Ruddy Crake
Laterallus ruber
A small, elusive bird of freshwater marshes, damp fields, and roadside ditches; heard much more often than seen. Walks quietly and runs quickly, like all rails. Can be confiding if you wait patiently and quietly. Plumage distinctive, overall rich ruddy with slate gray head. Adult has ruby-red eyes, which are duller on immatures.
识别特征
The ruddy crake can be identified by its ruddy plumage that can vary in shade and gray head with dark brown wings and tail. It is mostly bright chestnut in colour with a paler chin and belly, blackish crown and dark grey ear-coverts. Ruddy crakes are about the size of a sparrow. It is a small crake, 14–16.5 cm in length. Immature ruddy crakes tend to show discoloration on their midline or nape, such as a pale midline or chestnut colored nape. The bill is black, the iris is red and the legs and feet are olive-green. This distinct characteristic of yellow green legs, differentiating it from other small birds. The ruddy crake has a short black conical bill, and it has wide spread feet specifically adapted for wet habitats. Female ruddy crakes are more drab than males, and the males have rusty red plumage on the breast.
分类信息
The old Latin name for the ruddy crake was "Corethrura rubra".
- 学名
- Laterallus ruber
- 命名信息
- (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1860)
- 目
- Gruiformes
- 科
- Rallidae
- 属
- Laterallus
分布与栖息地
The ruddy crake, similar to others in the Rallidae family, prefers wet pastures and marshes, especially the tall grasses. The ruddy crake populates the lowlands of the Caribbean, including areas of the Veracruz east, Yucatan Peninsula, and Honduras. The bird occurs from Mexico south to north-west Costa Rica. It is found in freshwater habitats such as marshes, reedbeds, damp fields and ditches.<p>In the 1960s and 1970s, the ruddy crake was regarded as the most abundant crake in its range in Mexico, while it is considered rare in Costa Rica. Based on range maps, the breeding distribution is 655,600 kilometers squared. The ruddy crake was listed as possibly extinct by the Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica because there were no sightings for two decades. However, in May 2007 a ruddy crake was viewed near the trail by the La Selva Biological Research Station, indicating a widespread range.
- 迁徙
- Resident species
行为
Migration pattern: Resident species.
保护状况
Population trend: stable.
- 种群趋势
- stable
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Black-headed Waxbill
Estrilda atricapilla
A dapper waxbill of low elevations found in flocks along roadsides, near villages, and along the forest edge, sometimes with other waxbills. Similar to Black-crowned Waxbill, but Black-headed has a unique combination of a red rump and flanks and a dark vent. Black-headed is found at lower elevations than the visually similar Kandt’s Waxbill where ranges overlap. Black-headed often gives high-pitched “seet seet seet” calls as it forages.
Christmas Island Swiftlet
Collocalia natalis
Generic-looking “white-bellied swiftlet”, but fortunately the only regular one on Christmas Island; migratory House and Pacific Swifts are larger, with bright white rump patches. Note the pale belly, dusky throat, weakly forked tail, and glossy dark upperparts, all traits typical of the genus Collocalia. Forages in swift, bat-like flight above a range of habitats on Christmas Island, sometimes forming loose flocks.
Pale-browed Treehunter
Cichlocolaptes leucophrus
Medium-sized streaky foliage-gleaner, which hangs upside-down on branches and probes clusters of dead leaves, especially bromeliads in montane forests. Head and underparts are streaky with a well-marked eyebrow. Its pale throat contrasts with its rufous back and tail. The song is a repeated, sharp nasal “sreep-sreep.”
开始您的观鸟之旅
在户外识别鸟类，并在下一次观察时随手查阅鸟类图鉴。