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Colombian Crake | Mustelirallus colombianus
Colombiaans roodsnavelhoen | Polluela colombiana | Sanã-colombiana
The Colombian Crake is a small rail of northern Colombia and western Ecuador about which little is known. It resembles the Paint-billed Crake, but lacks the barring on the flanks. There are few records and its habits have hardly been studied.
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Voice
Little known and hardly recorded; probably similar to the rattling calls of the Paint-billed Crake.
No recording with a suitable Creative Commons licence is available for this species yet.
Identification
19–21 cm. The upperparts are plain olive-brown; the head, neck and breast grey, the face slightly paler. The rear belly, flanks and undertail coverts are warm cinnamon, without barring. The bill is greenish yellow with a red base, and the legs are red. The sexes are alike; juveniles are duller.
Confusion species
Paint-billed Crake Mustelirallus erythrops has black-and-white barred flanks and undertail coverts. Ash-throated Crake Mustelirallus albicollis is larger, with streaked upperparts and no red base to the bill. Grey-breasted Crake Laterallus exilis is smaller, with a rufous nape and barred flanks.
Habitat
Marshes, wet pastures, overgrown ditches and damp scrub, mainly in the lowlands, locally higher in the valleys. Diet and breeding biology are hardly known; the species probably eats insects and other small invertebrates.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the northern lowlands and in the Magdalena and Cauca valleys. In Ecuador with a small number of records in the western lowlands. Absent from Peru, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in eastern Panama.
How and when to look
Search wet pastures and marsh edges in northern Colombia, especially at dusk. Because records are so few, every observation is valuable; note the voice and the site carefully.
Conservation status
Data Deficient. The species is poorly known; loss of marshes may play a role locally.
Scientific name
Mustelirallus colombianus | (Bangs, 1898)
Bangs described the species in 1898 as Neocrex columbianus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Mustelirallus was introduced in 1858 by Bonaparte. The genus name combines the specific name of Crex mustelina Lichtenstein, 1823 (a synonym of Mustelirallus albicollis), with the genus Rallus, 'rail'. Latin mustelinus means 'weasel-like', from mustela, 'weasel'. The species name refers to Colombia; Bangs originally spelled it columbianus. The specimen the first description was based on came from Palomina, Santa Marta, Colombia.