Buff-spotted Flufftail
Sarothrura elegans
Forests. Small, secretive. Head, nape and upper breast chestnut; buff spots on dark back.
Crakes, Flufftails, Rails
LC
Not Endemic
Description
Fairly common resident. A tiny, dumpy terrestrial forest bird, usually located by distinctive foghorn-like call. Male has rounded buff spots (not streaks like other flufftails) and a chestnut tail barred with black. Female is paler and uniform. The call is a long, drawn-out and mournful ‘wooooooooooo-eeeeeeeee’, rising at the end, and can be heard from a good distance away. Frequents the moister areas of evergreen forests, overgrown wastelands and long grass. Occasionally in well-wooded suburban gardens, but very secretive.
Quick Facts
Size
17 cm - S
Names
A: Gevlekte Vleikuiken
Z: ubhavuzile
Ss: Tsuanelehlaka Ya Dirothi
G: Schmuckzwergralle
Bird Family
Small birds associated with wetlands. They are highly secretive and difficult to flush, but once airborne fly a short distance with legs dangling before dropping back into cover; they can seldom be flushed a second time. Calls are usually the only indication of a species' presence. Crakes and rails have mostly cryptic colouring. The minute flufftails or pygmy crakes show marked sexual dimorphism.
Distribution
Gallery
Behaviour
Breeding
Habitat
Frequents the moister areas of evergreen 'forest's, overgrown wastelands and long grass.
