The Colombian crake (''Neocrex colombiana'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the subfamily Rallinae of the rail, crake, and coot family

Rallidae The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized, ground-living birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity and includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules. Many species are associated with wetlands, althou ...

. It is found in Colombia,

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

, and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip retrieved August 7, 2022

Taxonomy and systematics

The Colombian crake's taxonomy has not been settled. The North American Classification Committee of AOS (NACC), the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC), and BirdLife International's '' Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) place it in genus ''Neocrex''. However, in 2015 the South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

(AOS) and the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 202 ...

moved it and the

paint-billed crake The paint-billed crake (''Neocrex erythrops'') is a species of bird in the subfamily Rallinae of the rail, crake, and coot family Rallidae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digit ...

(''N. erythrops'') to genus ''Mustelirallus''.Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, R. A. Jiménez, A. W. Kratter, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2022. Check-list of North American Birds (online). American Ornithological Society. https://checklist.aou.org/taxaClements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021 This article uses the IOC/NACC/HBW genus. The IOC, HBW, and Clements agree that the paint-billed crake has two subspecies, the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In the ...

''N. c. colombiana'' and ''N. c. ripleyi''.

Description

The Colombian crake is long. The sexes are alike. The nominate subspecies has a brown crown, nape, and upperparts including the tail. Its throat is white and its face, throat, and breast are gray. Its flanks, belly, and vent are cinnamon. ''N. c. ripleyi'' is similar but significantly darker.Taylor, B. and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Colombian Crake (''Mustelirallus colombianus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.colcra2.01 retrieved October 13, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of Colombian crake is found from northern Colombia south into northwestern Ecuador. ''N. c. ripleyi'' is found from central Panama into northwestern Colombia's

Chocó Department Choco Department is a department of Western Colombia known for its large Afro-Colombian population. It is in the west of the country, and is the only Colombian department to have coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It ...

. There are few records of the species and the exact boundaries of the two subspecies' ranges are not known. The species inhabits wet to moist landscapes such as marshes, swamps, savanna, and the brushy edges of forest; not all of these have water bodies. In elevation it ranges from sea level to .

Behavior

Movement

The Colombian crake is considered to be sedentary.

Feeding

Nothing is known about the Colombian crake's feeding habits or diet. They are assumed to be similar to those of its closest relative, the paint-billed crake. That species forages in soil, leaf litter, and standing water, and at dawn and dusk has been noted feeding in open areas next to dense vegetation. It is known to eat invertebrates including

Diplopoda Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a resu ...

and Coleoptera and also seeds.Taylor, B., A. Bonan, P. F. D. Boesman, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Paint-billed Crake (''Mustelirallus erythrops''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.pabcra.01 retrieved October 12, 2022

Breeding

The Colombian crake's breeding season is not fully defined but appears to include at least December to February. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocalization

As of late 2022

xeno-canto xeno-canto is a citizen science project and repository in which volunteers record, upload and annotate recordings of birdsong and bird calls. Since it began in 2005, it has collected over 575,000 sound recordings from more than 10,000 species w ...

had only one recording of a Colombian crake vocalization and the

Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

Macaulay Library The Macaulay Library is the world's largest archive of animal sounds. It includes more than 33 million photographs, 1.2 million audio recordings, and over two hundred thousand videos covering 96 percent of the world's bird species. There are an eve ...

had none. That recording is of an immature bird being held by a researcher and is judged to be a distress call.

Status

The IUCN originally assessed the Colombian crake in 1988 as Near Threatened, then in 1994 as Unknown, and since 2000 as Data Deficient. "It is very poorly known and its status, distribution and natural history demand urgent attention". "Nevertheless, there appears to be ample suitable habitat for henominate subspecies in W Colombia and Ecuador."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1269548 Colombian crake Birds of Colombia Birds of Panama Birds of the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Colombian crake Taxonomy articles created by Polbot