Paint-billed crake

Appearance

This crake is small, measuring 18 to 20 centimetres on average. One was captured having a wingspan of around 200mm, a tarsus of 28mm and weighing in at 43 grams

Naming

This bird derives its name from its bright red beak.

Distribution

The paint-billed crake is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. There is one record of the bird in the United States. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, swamps, and pastureland.

Behavior

This bird is nocturnal, active primarily during the night.

This bird does not respond to playback

Reproduction

This bird builds its nest on the ground, under the protection of vegetation in grassy fields.

The paint-billed crake is a territorial bird.

This crake lays a clutch of three to seven eggs that are coloured creamy buff and have large, reddish blotches near the blunt end of the egg. This egg is incubated for a period of 24 days, with the parent sitting on the nest, thus camouflaging the nest.