The spotted crake (''Porzana porzana'') is a small waterbird of the family Rallidae. The scientific name is derived from Venetian terms for small rails. The spotted crake's breeding habitat is

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

es and sedge beds across temperate Europe into western Asia. They nest in a dry location in marsh vegetation, laying 6–15

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s. This species is migratory, wintering in Africa and Pakistan. At length, spotted crakes are slightly smaller than water rails, from which they are readily distinguished by the short straight bill, yellow with a red base. Adults have mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey breast, with dark barring and white spots on the flanks. They have green legs with long toes, and a short tail which is buff underneath. Immature spotted crakes are similar, but the blue-grey is replaced by brown. The downy chicks are black, as with all

rails Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters * Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fi ...

. The only confusion species is the sora, a rare vagrant from North America. However, that species lacks the breast spotting and has an unstreaked crown stripe. These birds probe with their bill in mud or shallow water, also picking up food by sight. They mainly eat

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and aquatic animals. Spotted crakes are very secretive in the breeding season, and are then mostly heard rather than seen. They are then noisy

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s, with a distinctive repetitive whiplash-like ''hwuit, hwuit'' call. They can be easier to see on migration. The spotted crake is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' ( AEWA) applies. The Western European population has declined in recent decades, and the species is now a very rare breeding bird in Great Britain.

Gallery

Porzana porzana MWNH 0054.JPG, Eggs at Museum Wiesbaden, Germany File:Porzana_porzana_1_(Marek_Szczepanek).jpg, Immature Spotted crake (Porzana porzana) (6830876880).jpg, Adult File:Porzana porzana naumann.jpg, In art File:Spotted Crake from the Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland.jpg, ID composite

References

External links

Spotted crake species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
*

* * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q194024 spotted crake Birds of Eurasia Birds of Russia Birds of Africa spotted crake spotted crake