The plumbeous rail (''Pardirallus sanguinolentus'') 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 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, althoug ...

. It 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 ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

.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 plumbeous rail has previously been placed in the large genus ''Rallus'', and also in genus ''Orygonax'' with the blackish rail (''Pardirallus nigricans''). Some authors propose that the blackish and plumbeous rails are

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organ ...

, and they do form a superspecies. The plumbeous rail has these six subspecies: *''P. s. simonsi'' Chubb, C., 1918 *''P. s. tschudii'' Chubb, C., 1919 *''P. s. zelebori'' ( Pelzeln, 1865) *''P. s. sanguinolentus'' ( Swainson, 1838) *''P. s. landbecki'' (

Hellmayr Carl Eduard Hellmayr (29 January 1878 in Vienna, Austria – 24 February 1944 in Orselina, Switzerland) was an Austrian ornithologist. Biography Hellmayr was born in Vienna and studied at the University of Vienna, although he did not complete hi ...

, 1932) *''P. s. luridus'' ( Peale, 1849)

Description

The blackish rail is long and weighs . The sexes are alike. They have red eyes and legs. They have a green bill and in all but subspecies ''P. s. luridus'' the

maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...

has a sky blue base and the

mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...

a bright red one. The

nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

''P. s. sanguinolentus'' has mottled brown upperparts and plain gray face and underparts. The other subspecies differ somewhat in size and plumage. ''P. s. luridus'' is the largest and ''P. s. zelebori'' the smallest. ''P. s. simonsi'' is more olive brown above and paler gray below than the nominate. ''P. s. tschudii'' also has paler underparts. ''P. s. landbecki'' is more more olive brown upperparts than the nominate and no mottling. ''P. s. luridus'' has no mottling on its upperparts and has paler gray underparts than the nominate.Taylor, B. (2020). Plumbeous Rail (''Pardirallus sanguinolentus''), 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.plurai1.01 retrieved October 13, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The six subspecies of plumbeous rail are distributed thus. The species is found further south than any other South American rail. *''P. s. simonsi'', extreme southern Ecuador south along the Pacific slope through Peru into northern Chile *''P. s. tschudii'', southeastern Peru into central and southeastern Bolivia *''P. s. zelebori'', southeastern Brazil *''P. s. sanguinolentus'', extreme southeastern Brazil, Parguay, Uruguay, and Argentina as far south as

Río Negro Province Río Negro (, ''Black River'') is a province of Argentina, located in northern Patagonia. Neighboring provinces are from the south clockwise Chubut, Neuquén, Mendoza, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. To the east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Its capit ...

*''P. s. landbecki'', central Chile between the Atacama Region and

Llanquihue Province Llanquihue Province ( es, Provincia de Llanquihue) is one of four provinces of the Chilean region of Los Lagos (X). Its capital is Puerto Montt. Chile's second largest lake, Lake Llanquihue, is located in the province as well as four volcanoes: ...

and into southwestern Argentina *''P. s. luridus'', southern Chile and Argentina including

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla G ...

, and as a

vagrant Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

to the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved July 24, 2022 The plumbeous rail inhabits a variety of landscapes characterized by water and vegetative cover. Examples include reed marshes (even small ones), ponds with floating vegetation, irrigated croplands, wet ditches through pasture, and oases in arid areas. In elevation it occurs mostly in the lowlands but ranges in some limited areas as high as and in a few locations up to about

Fossil record

Late Pleistocene-early Holocene

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

of the plumbeous rail are known from the Laguna de Tagua Tagua formation of Chile.

Behavior

Movement

The plumbeous rail's movement patterns are imperfectly known. Some populations, such as those along the Atlantic coast, are known to be sedentary. Those that nest on the Argentine Pampas may move north in winter.

Feeding

The plumbeous rail mostly forages at twilight but is also active during both day and night. It seeks its diet of grubs, worms, and insects in marshes, ponds, and nearby cultivated fields.

Breeding

The plumbeous rail's breeding season varies geographically but is generally within October to January. It makes a rudimentary nest of dry grass on the ground among bushes or tall grass near water. The clutch size is four to six eggs. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.

Vocalization

Male plumbeous rails sing "a series of high, penetrating, rolling squeals" in a duet with the female's "low, deep 'hoo' notes". They sing at any time of day. Their calls are "repeated 'giyp' or 'wit' notes".

Status

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 ...

has assessed the plumbeous rail as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range, and though its population size is unknown it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. Though its "status sdifficult to assess in many areas" it is abundant in some, and is " obably more widespread than is currently known".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1274077 plumbeous rail Birds of South America plumbeous rail Taxonomy articles created by Polbot