Uniform crake

Appearance

The uniform crake is 20 to 23 cm long and weighs about 95 to 130 g. The sexes are alike. They have a medium length yellowish green bill, a red eye, and pinkish red legs and feet. "A. c. guatemalensis" is the larger of the two living subspecies; it has olivaceous brown upperparts and brown underparts. "A. c. castaneus" is also olivaceous brown above, but has rufous brown underparts.

Distribution

The uniform crake has a highly disjunct distribution. Subspecies "A. c. guatemalensis" is found from Veracruz and Oaxaca in southern Mexico through Central America and western Colombia into northwestern Ecuador. "A. c. castaneus" is found in northern Venezuela, the Guianas, several separate areas of Brazil both inland and coastal, eastern Ecuador and Peru, and locally in Bolivia.

Status

The IUCN has assessed the uniform crake as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range and an unknown population size that is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. Its distribution is spotty even within larger areas of its range. "Because of its secretive habits [the] species is undoubtedly overlooked, and is possibly more widely distributed than currently known, but [is] certainly adversely affected by destruction of its forest habitats."

Habitat

It inhabits a variety of wet to almost dry landscapes including wooded swamps, flooded forest, heavily vegetated ravines and streams, and dense vegetation on the edges of secondary forest and cultivated areas. In elevation it ranges from sea level to about 1,000 m.

Reproduction

The uniform crake's breeding season is essentially unknown; in Costa Rica it does include July. It is thought to be territorial in the breeding season. One nest in Costa Rica was in a swamp forest near a stream. It was a cup made of leaves in the top of a vine-covered stump and contained four eggs.

Food

The uniform crake mostly forages in cover, where it searches leaf litter and other detritus and digs in mud with its bill. Its diet includes earthworms, insects and spiders, small amphibians and lizards, seeds, and berries.