Spotted Crake (Porzana porzana)
About the Spotted Crake
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 marshes and sedge beds across temperate Europe into western Asia. They nest in a dry location in marsh vegetation, laying 6–15 eggs. This species is migratory, wintering in Africa and Pakistan. At 19–22.5 cm (7.5–8.9 in) 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.
A real field recording of the Spotted Crake. Press play and focus on the rhythm and pitch of each phrase.
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Our streaming copies are mirrored from the original xeno-canto file and transcoded to 96 kbps mono — a modification, so we note it here; the licence for each recording is named in its credit below.
3 recordings on this page · licensed Public Domain / CC0 ×2 · CC BY ×1 · mirrored on this server, free for commercial reuse · recorded in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France and elsewhere · xeno-canto lists 1,033 recordings for this species in total.
Similar species
- Australian CrakePorzana flumineaprofile
- SoraPorzana carolinarecording
Species grouped by shared genus, family and range.