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Rufous-sided Crake | Laterallus melanophaius
Braziliaanse dwergral | Polluela flanquirrufa | Sanã-parda
The Rufous-sided Crake is a small rail of marsh edges and wet grassland east of the Andes. It has olive-brown upperparts, rufous sides to the neck and black-and-white barred flanks, and lives hidden in dense grass. It usually gives itself away by its long, descending churr.
Voice
A long, descending churr or rattle, often answered by a second bird; also sharp, ticking calls.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
15–18 cm. Upperparts plain olive-brown. Sides of the head and neck and sides of the breast rufous; throat and centre of the breast white. The flanks are barred black and white, and the undertail coverts are rufous. The bill is greenish, and the legs are olive-green to brownish. The sexes are alike; juveniles are duller, with less rufous.
Confusion species
White-throated Crake Laterallus albigularis is very similar, but has a rufous breast without a white centre and black-and-white barred undertail coverts, and lives west of the Andes. Grey-breasted Crake Laterallus exilis is smaller, with a grey head and breast. Chestnut-headed Crake Anurolimnas castaneiceps is larger, with a chestnut head and breast and unbarred flanks, and lives in forest. Yellow-breasted Crake Laterallus flaviventer is smaller and paler, with a white supercilium.
Habitat
Marsh edges, reed fringes, wet grassland, ditches and riverbanks with tall grass and shrubs in the lowlands, locally to about 1000 m; in Amazonia also on young river islands with wild cane and young scrub. It forages on the ground for insects, spiders and seeds. The nest is a domed ball of grass, low in dense vegetation.
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 south-east, in the Amazonian lowlands. In Ecuador in the Amazonian lowlands. In Peru in the Amazonian lowlands and the Andean foothills. In Bolivia widespread in the lowlands of the north and east. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Venezuela, the Guianas, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and northern Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Listen for the churrs on river islands and along marsh edges in the Amazonian lowlands, mainly in the morning; waiting at an opening in the grass gives the best chance of a brief view.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species has a large range and also uses wet areas created by people.
Scientific name
Laterallus melanophaius | (Vieillot, 1819)
Vieillot described the species in 1819 as Rallus melanophaius; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Laterallus was introduced in 1855 by Gray. The genus name is a portmanteau of Rallus lateralis, an old name of the Rufous-sided Crake (Latin lateralis, 'of the side'). The species name comes from Greek melas, 'black', and phaios, 'dusky'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Paraguay.