Grey-cowled wood rail

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Grey-cowled wood rail
Grey-cowled wood rail

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Genus: Aramides
Species:
A. cajaneus
Binomial name
Aramides cajaneus
(Müller, 1776)
Subspecies

See text

A map showing South America and Central America. A green colour covers the southern portion of Central America and most of South America, except the western coast and the southern portion of the continent.
Synonyms
List
  • Aramides cajanea
  • Aramides plumbeicollis
  • Aramides chiricote
  • Rallus chiricote

The grey-cowled wood rail or grey-necked wood rail (Aramides cajaneus) is a species of

least-concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN). In some places, it is occasionally hunted and kept for food.

This bird, large for a wood rail, has both a grey head and neck. In the nominate, the back of the head has a brown patch. The upperparts are olive-green to dark brown. The chest and flanks are a rufous colour, with the belly, rump, and tail being black. The legs are coral-red, the bill is a bright greenish-yellow, and the eyes are red. The sexes are similar. The juveniles can be differentiated by their duller look, and the chicks have a black, downy appearance, brown head, and black beak. The subspecies avicenniae can be differentiated by its smaller size, lack of a brown patch at the back of the neck, and its lower back being toned slightly olive. The underparts are also pale.

A

molluscs to seeds. It is also known to feed on the feces of giant otters
.

Taxonomy and etymology

Placed in the family

specific epithet was changed to cajaneus.[5]

The grey-cowled wood rail is regarded as being

sister species with the russet-naped wood rail,[6] one of the nine members of the genus Aramides, of which the grey-cowled wood rail is included in. The two were classified as subspecies of a single species by James L. Peters in the 1934 edition of his Check-list of Birds of the World, before being separated as species once more in 2015. The two rails have different calls and plumage with no gradation reported.[6] The number of subspecies is contentious, some authorities recognize up to nine,[7] while others recognize only two.[8] It is even suggested that the subspecies avicenniae be split off as a full species, based on differences in morphology and calls, speculated to have arisen because the slaty-breasted wood rail acted as an ecological barrier between the two subspecies.[6] The subspecies, according to the International Ornithologists' Union
, are:

Etymology

The genus name of the grey-cowled wood rail—Aramides—is derived from the combination of the genus name Aramus and of the Greek oidēs, "resembling". This refers to the similarity between birds of the genus Aramides and the one species of the genus Aramus. The specific epithet, cajaneus, is in reference to the capital city of French Guiana, Cayenne. The subspecies epithet avicenniae honours the Persian philosopher Avicenna.[5]

Description

The grey-cowled wood rail usually measures 33–40 centimetres (13–16 in) long and weighs 320–465 grams (11.3–16.4 oz), particularly large for a wood rail.[7] The upperparts are olive-green to dark brown. The head and neck are medium-grey, blending into a brown patch at the back of the head. The eyes are red. The chest and flanks are rufous. The belly, rump, and tail are black. The legs are coral-red, while the bill is a bright greenish-yellow. The males and females are similar.[9]

Juvenile birds are similar to the adult but are duller in colour, with their belly sooty-black and flecked with buff.[9] The juveniles also differ in that their bill and legs are dusky, and have brownish eyes. The chicks are black and downy, with a brownish head. Their dark eyes are lined with dull, reddish bare skin. The black bill has a flesh-coloured base,[7] and a small, white egg tooth behind the tip of the upper mandible, as well as a very small one at the tip of the lower mandible.[10]

The subspecies avicenniae differs from the

nominate by its smaller size.[6] It also varies as its nape to back is a dull grey colour. The brown spot present at the back of the head of the nominate is also reduced or gone. The lower back is toned a slight olive, and the underparts are also slightly paler than the nominate,[11] but without white feathers. Avicenniae's upper wing-coverts are also more greenish-grey.[6] The similar but smaller rufous-necked wood rail can be differentiated from the grey-necked wood rail by the former's reddish head and neck with a grey upper back.[9]

This bird moults its remiges simultaneously. This moult occurs during the months from March to June.[11]

Vocalizations

The grey-cowled wood rail has a loud, repetitive cackling call mainly heard at dawn and dusk: pop-tiyi pop-tiyi co-co-co-co-co or chitico chitico cao-cao-cao.[9] These songs are often sung in a chorus or duet. The alarm call is a harsh, loud cackle or clucking shriek.[7] The chitico chitico cao-cao-cao call made by this rail is similar to the brown wood rail's kui-ko call.[11]

Distribution and habitat

A grey-cowled wood rail on the left side, looking at the camera.
Nominate subspecies cajaneus in Costa Rica

The grey-cowled wood rail is found in

Andes Mountains and lives east of the range in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; it is not found in the southeastern interior of Brazil. The subspecies avicenniae is found in coastal southeastern Brazil, around São Paulo.[6]

The grey-cowled wood rail's natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical swamps.[1] The subspecies avicenniae, however, is almost completely restricted to mangrove forests.[11] The grey-cowled wood rail can be found from sea level to elevations around 2,000 metres (6,600 ft),[1] although some wanderers have been recorded at elevations up to 2,300 metres (7,500 ft) in Colombia.[7]

Behaviour and ecology

A grey-necked wood rail feeding on seeds

This bird can be seen to perch in both shrubbery and even trees, something characteristic of the forest rails. The grey-cowled wood rail rarely flies, although when it is flushed out, it will generally move to a branch close to the ground. If it is being observed, it is generally cautious.[12]

Breeding

The grey-cowled wood rail's nests are situated in trees and bushes, usually 1 to 3 metres (3.3 to 9.8 ft) off the ground, built on flat branches or in thickets and lined with twigs and leaves.[13] They generally have a diameter between 30 and 40 centimetres (12 and 16 in) on the outside, with an internal diameter of around 15 centimetres (5.9 in). The depth is usually between under 4 and 9 centimetres (1.6 and 3.5 in). The overall height of the nest is around 16 centimetres (6.3 in).[11]

This bird is monogamous, forming long lasting pair bonds,[7] with pairs of grey-necked wood rails staying together throughout the year.[10] Its breeding season usually occurs between March and August, although this varies depending on geography. In Costa Rica, the breeding season extends until September. In Mexico, on the other hand, the breeding season is known to start as early as January.[7] In captivity, this wood rail is territorial.[14]

The

precocial and are cared for by the parents for one or two days before leaving the nest,[11] although chicks sometimes use the brood nest until they are 40 days old.[7][13]

Feeding

A wading grey-necked wood rail

This bird feeds at night, eating various

palm fruits, and the occasional water snake. Maize, rice, and bananas are also viable food items for the grey-necked wood rail.[7] It is also known to feed on the feces of giant otters at latrines.[17]

When eating

threat displays to keep it at a distance.[13] Even so, it has occasionally been seen to openly forage in short grass near thickets and in streams or muddy tracks.[7]

Parasites

The grey-cowled wood rail is the type host of

apicomplexan parasite, meaning that P. bertii was originally discovered on this organism.[18] P. lutzi is also found on this bird.[19]

Status

This rail is considered to be a

IUCN. The justification is this species' stable and large population, believed to be somewhere between five million and 50 million individuals. The grey-cowled wood rail also has a large extent of occurrence, estimated to cover 21.4 million square kilometres (8.3 million sq mi).[1] It is common throughout its range, although it is adversely affected by destruction of its habitat.[7]

Human interaction

The grey-cowled wood rail is occasionally hunted for food in northeast Brazil.[20] They are usually hunted with baited fish hooks that are laid near the bodies of water where these birds forage.[21] In the Las Minas District, in Panama, this bird is also kept for food.[22] Although it is generally cautious, it can tolerate an approach by humans up to about 10 metres (33 ft) away from it, after which it will retreat into the undergrowth.[12]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T154837348A155305561.en
    . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. ^ Linnaeus, Carolus; Houttuyn, Martinus; Muller, Philippus Ludovicus Statius (1773). Vollständiges Natursystem (in German). Vol. 8. Nuremberg: Gabriel Nicolas Raspe. p. 119.
  3. ^ Martinet, François Nicolas; Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de; Daubenton, Edme-Louis; Daubenton, M. (Louis-Jean-Marie) (1765). Planches Enlumineés d'Histoire Naturelle (in French). Vol. 4. p. Pl. 352.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Pucheran, Jacques (1845). "Notes sur quelques espèces Madécasses de l'ordre des Écuassiers". Revue Zoologique par la Société Cuvierienne, Anneé 1845: 277–280.
  5. ^ a b Jobling, J. A. del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew; Sargatal, Jordi; Christie, David A.; de Juana, Eduardo (eds.). "Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  6. ^
    PMID 25987874
    .
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Taylor, Barry (2017). del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew; Sargatal, Jordi; Christie, David A.; de Juana, Eduardo (eds.). "Grey-necked Wood-rail (Aramides cajaneus)". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  8. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  9. ^ a b c d Ramos-Ordoñez, M.F.; Rodríguez-Flores, C.; Soberanes-González, C.; Arizmendi, M.C. (2010). Schulenberg, T.S. (ed.). "Identification – Gray-necked Wood-Rail (Aramides cajanea)". Neotropical Birds Online. Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  10. ^
    JSTOR 4088524
    .
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4081-3537-2
    .
  12. ^
    ISBN 978-0-919880-07-8
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-0-226-05781-1
    .
  14. ^ Amos, Stephen H. (1985). "Captive management of grey-necked wood rails (Aramides cajanea)". AFA Watchbird. 12 (2): 32–39.
  15. ^ "Aramides cajanea (Grey-necked wood rail)".
  16. ^ Sankar, Vijay (2017). "Aramides cajaneus (Grey-necked Wood-rail)" (PDF). The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago.
  17. S2CID 83960814
    .
  18. S2CID 24220225
    .
  19. S2CID 11184880
    .
  20. ISSN 1940-0829
    .
  21. S2CID 16399532
    .
  22. ISBN 978-1-937040-15-4
    .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aramides cajaneus.
Wikispecies has information related to Aramides cajaneus.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grey-cowled_wood_rail&oldid=1160311823"