Striped Crake
Aenigmatolimnas marginalis
Wetlands. Above dark brown with white feather edges; below buffy-brown.
LC
Locally Rare
Description
Uncommon summer visitor. Best identified by orange-buff undertail coverts and white lines on mantle and wings. Differs from [Spotted Crake] in more streaky, less spotted upper parts, paler underparts and thicker, darker bill. Female shows diagnostic blue-grey underparts; rich buff in male. The call (often heard at night) is a constant ticking like a wristwatch ‘tak-tak-taktak-tak…’. Extremely secretive dweller of flooded grassland and small pools. Occasionally breeds in southern Africa in years of good rainfall, and probably overlooked.
Quick Facts
Size
24 cm - M
Names
A: Gestreepte Riethaan
Ss: Kgoholelhaka Ya Metjhato
G: Graukehl-Sumpfhuhn
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
