The grey-cowled wood rail or grey-necked wood rail (''Aramides cajaneus'') 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 lightweigh ...
in the 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, althoug ...
, the rails. It lives primarily in the forests, mangroves, and swamps of Central and South America. Of the two subspecies, ''A. c. avicenniae'' is found in southeastern Brazil, while 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 ...
is found throughout the portion of the range not occupied by the other subspecies. The species as a whole is usually found at elevations from sea level to , although some have been found above that. This bird's large extent of occurrence along with its population is why it is considered to be
least-concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
(IUCN). In some places, it is occasionally hunted and kept for food.
This bird, large for a wood rail, has both a grey head and neck. In the nominate, the back of the head has a brown patch. The are olive-green to dark brown. The chest and flanks are a rufous colour, with the belly, rump, and tail being black. The legs are coral-red, the bill is a bright greenish-yellow, and the eyes are red. The sexes are similar. The juveniles can be differentiated by their duller look, and the chicks have a black, downy appearance, brown head, and black beak. The subspecies ''avicenniae'' can be differentiated by its smaller size, lack of a brown patch at the back of the neck, and its lower back being toned slightly olive. The are also pale.
A
monogamous
Monogamy ( ) is a form of Dyad (sociology), dyadic Intimate relationship, relationship in which an individual has only one Significant other, partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time (Monogamy#Serial monogamy, ...
bird, pairs can be found together throughout the year. During the breeding season, which usually lasts from March to August, the grey-cowled wood rail builds nests that can be found on flat branches and in thickets, usually at heights between . In these nests, there is a
clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...
consisting of three to seven eggs, incubated by both sexes. The chicks that hatch are
precocial
In biology, altricial species are those in which the young are underdeveloped at the time of birth, but with the aid of their parents mature after birth. Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the mome ...
, able to move soon after hatching. This rail feeds on a wide range of foods, from
mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
s to seeds. It is also known to feed on the feces of
giant otter
The giant otter or giant river otter (''Pteronura brasiliensis'') is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to . Atypical of musteli ...
s.
Taxonomy and etymology
Placed in the 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, althoug ...
—the rails—this species was originally
described as ''Fulica Cajanea'' by
Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller
Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller (25 April 1725 – 5 January 1776) was a German zoologist.
Statius Müller was born in Esens, and was a professor of natural science at Erlangen. Between 1773 and 1776, he published a German translation of Linnaeu ...
, in his 1776 ''Vollständiges Natursystem''.
Müller based his description on the illustration “Poule d’Eau de Cayenne” (Cayenne's water hen) by French naturalist and artist
Edme-Louis Daubenton
Edme-Louis Daubenton (12 August 1730 – 12 December 1785) was a French naturalist.
Daubenton was the cousin of another French naturalist, Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton. Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon engaged Edme-Louis Daubenton to su ...
in his ''Planches Enlumineés d’Histoire Naturelle''. It was eventually moved to the new genus ''
Aramides
''Aramides'' is a genus of birds in the 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 g ...
'', the wood rails, by
Jacques Pucheran Jacques Pucheran (2 June 1817 – 13 January 1895) was a French zoologist born in Clairac. He was a grandnephew to physiologist Étienne Serres (1786-1868).
Pucheran accompanied the expedition on the ''Astrolabe'' between 1837 and 1840, under the c ...
in 1845, and the
specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
was changed to ''cajaneus''.
The grey-cowled wood rail is regarded as being
sister species
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and t ...
with the
russet-naped wood rail
The russet-naped wood rail or rufous-naped wood rail (''Aramides albiventris'') is a species of bird in the subfamily Rallinae of the rail, crake, and coot family Rallidae. It is found from Mexico to Costa Rica.HBW and BirdLife International (2 ...
,
one of the nine members of the genus ''Aramides'', of which the grey-cowled wood rail is included in. The two were classified as subspecies of a single species by
James L. Peters
James Lee Peters (August 13, 1889 – April 19, 1952) was an American ornithologist.
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Dr. Austin Peters and Francis Howie Lee on August 13, 1889. His early education was at the Roxbury Latin School, followe ...
in the 1934 edition of his ''Check-list of Birds of the World'', before being separated as species once more in 2015. The two rails have different calls and plumage with no gradation reported.
The number of subspecies is contentious, some authorities recognize up to nine,
while others recognize only two.
It is even suggested that the subspecies ''avicenniae'' be split off as a full species, based on differences in morphology and calls, speculated to have arisen because the
slaty-breasted wood rail
The slaty-breasted wood rail (''Aramides saracura'') is a species of bird in the subfamily Rallinae of the rail, crake, and coot family Rallidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of ...
acted as an
ecological barrier between the two subspecies.
The subspecies, according to the
International Ornithologists' Union
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 ...
, are:
* ''Aramides cajaneus cajaneus''
(Müller Müller may refer to:
* ''Die schöne Müllerin'' (1823) (sometimes referred to as ''Müllerlieder''; ''Müllerin'' is a female miller) is a song cycle with words by Wilhelm Müller and music by Franz Schubert
* Doctor Müller, fictional character ...
, 1776) — from Costa Rica to
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
, east through
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
and
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, and south to Northern
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
* ''A. c. avicenniae''
Stotz Stotz is a surname. Notable people with the name will include:
* Carl E. Stotz (1910–1992) American founder of Little League Baseball
*Karl Stotz (1927–2017) Austrian football player from Vienna
*Charles Morse Stotz (1898–1985), architect, ar ...
, 1992 — coastal southeastern Brazil
Etymology
The genus name of the grey-cowled wood rail—''Aramides''—is derived from the combination of the genus name ''
Aramus'' and of the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''oidēs'', "resembling". This refers to the similarity between birds of the genus ''Aramides'' and the one species of the genus ''Aramus''. The specific epithet, ''cajaneus'', is in reference to the capital city of
French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
,
Cayenne
Cayenne (; ; gcr, Kayenn) is the capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic Oc ...
. The subspecies epithet ''avicenniae'' honours the
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
philosopher
Avicenna
Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic G ...
.
Description
The grey-cowled wood rail usually measures long and weighs , particularly large for a wood rail.
The are olive-green to dark brown. The head and neck are medium-grey, blending into a brown patch at the back of the head. The eyes are red. The chest and flanks are rufous. The belly, rump, and tail are black. The legs are coral-red, while the bill is a bright greenish-yellow. The males and females are similar.
Juvenile birds are similar to the adult but are duller in colour, with their belly sooty-black and flecked with buff.
The juveniles also differ in that their bill and legs are dusky, and have brownish eyes. The chicks are black and downy, with a brownish head. Their dark eyes are lined with dull, reddish bare skin. The black bill has a flesh-coloured base,
and a small, white behind the tip of the , as well as a very small one at the tip of the .
The subspecies ''avicenniae'' differs from 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 ...
by its smaller size.
It also varies as its
nape
The nape is the back of the neck. In technical anatomical/medical terminology, the nape is also called the nucha (from the Medieval Latin rendering of the Arabic , "spinal marrow"). The corresponding adjective is ''nuchal'', as in the term ''nu ...
to back is a dull grey colour. The brown spot present at the back of the head of the nominate is also reduced or gone. The lower back is toned a slight olive, and the underparts are also slightly paler than the nominate,
but without white feathers. ''Avicenniaes upper wing-coverts are also more greenish-grey.
The similar but smaller
rufous-necked wood rail
The rufous-necked wood rail (''Aramides axillaris'') 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 ...
can be differentiated from the grey-necked wood rail by the former's reddish head and neck with a grey upper back.
This bird its simultaneously. This moult occurs during the months from March to June.
Vocalizations
The grey-cowled wood rail has a loud, repetitive cackling call mainly heard at dawn and dusk: ''pop-tiyi pop-tiyi co-co-co-co-co'' or ''chitico chitico cao-cao-cao''.
These songs are often sung in a chorus or duet. The is a harsh, loud cackle or clucking shriek.
The ''chitico chitico cao-cao-cao'' call made by this rail is similar to the
brown wood rail
The brown wood rail (''Aramides wolfi'') is a Vulnerable 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 ...
's ''kui-ko'' call.
Distribution and habitat
![Gray-necked-wood-rail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Gray-necked-wood-rail.jpg)
The grey-cowled wood rail is found in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
,
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
,
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: ''Eku ...
, French Guiana,
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
,
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 Cos ...
,
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
,
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
,
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
,
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, and
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
.
The nominate subspecies is cut off by the
Andes Mountains
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...
and lives east of the range in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; it is not found in the southeastern interior of Brazil. The subspecies ''avicenniae'' is found in coastal southeastern Brazil, around
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
.
The grey-cowled wood rail's natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland
forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
s, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical
swamp
A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
s.
The subspecies ''avicenniae'', however, is almost completely restricted to mangrove forests.
The grey-cowled wood rail can be found from sea level to elevations around ,
although some wanderers have been recorded at elevations up to in Colombia.
Behaviour and ecology
![Aramides cajanea (Chilacoa colinegra) (14231008961)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Aramides_cajanea_%28Chilacoa_colinegra%29_%2814231008961%29.jpg)
This bird can be seen to perch in both shrubbery and even trees, something characteristic of the forest rails. The grey-cowled wood rail rarely flies, although when it is flushed out, it will generally move to a branch close to the ground. If it is being observed, it is generally cautious.
Breeding
The grey-cowled wood rail's nests are situated in trees and bushes, usually 1 to 3 metres (3.3 to 9.8 ft) off the ground, built on flat branches or in thickets and lined with twigs and leaves.
They generally have a diameter between on the outside, with an internal diameter of around . The depth is usually between under . The overall height of the nest is around .
This bird is
monogamous
Monogamy ( ) is a form of Dyad (sociology), dyadic Intimate relationship, relationship in which an individual has only one Significant other, partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time (Monogamy#Serial monogamy, ...
, forming long lasting pair bonds,
with pairs of grey-necked wood rails staying together throughout the year.
Its breeding season usually occurs between March and August, although this varies depending on geography. In Costa Rica, the breeding season extends until September. In Mexico, on the other hand, the breeding season is known to start as early as January.
In captivity, this wood rail is territorial.
The
clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...
the grey-cowled wood rail lays usually consists of three to seven brown-blotched, slightly glossy,
whitish eggs, although clutches consisting of five eggs are most typical. These eggs usually measure around
and weigh between .
They are incubated by both sexes, each taking six to eight hour shifts, for around 20 days.
In captivity, the male incubates during the day, and the female during the night. The chicks hatch
precocial
In biology, altricial species are those in which the young are underdeveloped at the time of birth, but with the aid of their parents mature after birth. Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the mome ...
and are cared for by the parents for one or two days before leaving the nest,
although chicks sometimes use the brood nest until they are 40 days old.
Feeding
![Grey-necked Wood Rail (Aramides cajanea) (30934919933)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Grey-necked_Wood_Rail_%28Aramides_cajanea%29_%2830934919933%29.jpg)
This bird feeds at night, eating various
invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s and small
vertebrate
Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...
s.
While in
mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...
s, it commonly feeds on
crab
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...
s. Otherwise, it will generally feed on
mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
s (such as
snail
A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...
s, including ''
Pomacea flagellata''),
arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...
s,
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
s,
seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
s,
grain
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...
s,
leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
,
berries
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, raspb ...
,
palm fruit
''Elaeis'' () is a genus of Arecaceae, palms containing two species, called oil palms. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African oil palm ''Elaeis guineensis'' (the species name ''guineensis'' referring ...
s, and the occasional water snake. Maize, rice, and bananas are also viable food items for the grey-necked wood rail.
It is also known to feed on the feces of
giant otter
The giant otter or giant river otter (''Pteronura brasiliensis'') is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to . Atypical of musteli ...
s at
latrines
A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground (pit latrine), or m ...
.
When eating
snail
A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...
s, this rail will hammer at the shells to extract them. For berries, it will jump high to break off clusters of this fruit.
After doing this, it will pick off the berries one by one and eat them.
It uses its partially open bill to probe and move aside debris like leaf litter. It is generally wary and secretive,
and selfish when mated. This manifests in warning its partner with
threat display
Deimatic behaviour or startle display means any pattern of bluffing behaviour in an animal that lacks strong defences, such as suddenly displaying conspicuous eyespots, to scare off or momentarily distract a predator, thus giving the prey anima ...
s to keep it at a distance.
Even so, it has occasionally been seen to openly forage in short grass near thickets and in streams or muddy tracks.
Parasites
The grey-cowled wood rail is the type host of ''
Plasmodium bertii
''Plasmodium bertii'' is a parasite of the genus ''Plasmodium'' subgenus ''Papernaia''.Gabaldon A, Ulloa G (1981) A new species of the subgenus ''Novyella'' (Haemosporina, Plasmodiidae) from ''Aramides cajanea'' (Gruiformes, Rallidae). In: Cannin ...
'', an
apicomplexan
The Apicomplexa (also called Apicomplexia) are a large phylum of parasitic alveolates. Most of them possess a unique form of organelle that comprises a type of non-photosynthetic plastid called an apicoplast, and an apical complex structure. The ...
parasite, meaning that ''P. bertii'' was originally discovered on this organism.
''
P. lutzi'' is also found on this bird.
Status
This rail is considered to be a
least-concern species
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
, according to the
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
. The justification is this species' stable and large population, believed to be somewhere between five million and 50 million individuals. The grey-cowled wood rail also has a large extent of occurrence, estimated to cover .
It is common throughout its range, although it is adversely affected by destruction of its habitat.
Human interaction
The grey-cowled wood rail is occasionally hunted for food in northeast Brazil.
They are usually hunted with baited
fish hook
A fish hook or fishhook, formerly also called angle (from Old English ''angol'' and Proto-Germanic ''*angulaz''), is a hook used to catch fish either by piercing and embedding onto the inside of the fish mouth (angling) or, more rarely, by impa ...
s that are laid near the bodies of water where these birds forage.
In the
Las Minas District
Las Minas District is a district (''distrito'') of Herrera Province in Panama. The population according to the 2000 census was 7,945. The district covers a total area of 437 km². The capital lies at the city of Las Minas.
Administrative ...
, in Panama, this bird is also kept for food.
Although it is generally cautious, it can tolerate an approach by humans up to about away from it, after which it will retreat into the undergrowth.
References
External links
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1268308
grey-cowled wood rail
Birds of Central America
Birds of South America
grey-cowled wood rail
grey-cowled wood rail
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot