Alternative name: Rufous-naped Wood Rail
- Aramides albiventris
Identification
33–40 cm
Large. Bill moderately long, yellowish at base, greenish at tip; eyes, bare eyering, and legs coral red. Head and longish neck gray; throat paler; crown and upper nape russet brown; upperparts olive, mantle brown; breast and sides cinnamon rufous; rearparts including abdomen, rump, and tail black; primaries rufous chestnut (usually concealed at rest).
Immatures are duller and the bill and legs are dusky.
Similar Species
Rufous-necked Wood-Rail is slightly smaller, has reddish head and neck, gray upper back and belly.
Distribution
From southern Mexico south to Costa Rica.
Taxonomy
Formerly included in Gray-necked Wood Rail and still lumped by some authors (e.g. HBW). The two differ in plumage with the rufous nape reduced or absent on Gray-cowled Wood-Rail, and in vocalizations. They replace each other very abruptly in Costa Rica.
Subspecies
There are 5 subspecies1:
- A. a. mexicanus - Southern Mexico (Tamaulipas to Chiapas)
- A. a. albiventris - Yucatán Peninsula, Cozumel Island, Belize and adjacent northern Guatemala
- A. a. vanrossemi - Southern Mexico (Oaxaca) to south-western Guatemala and western El Salvador
- A. a. pacificus - Caribbean slope of Honduras and Nicaragua
- A. a. plumbeicollis - Caribbean lowlands of north-eastern Costa Rica
Habitat
Floodplain lakes, wet open areas, damp floor of mature rain forest but can also be found in forest remnants. Coastal marshland, mangrove woods, Hilly woodland with pond in an urban setting with cultivated and native trees, shrubs and herbs. Found near streams and in swamps and mangroves. Tropical dry forest. Observed at heights from 30 m and 610 m. Recorded at heights up to 2300m.
Behaviour
Breeding
From April to August or September. The nest is a compact, but bulky mass of dead leaves and twigs with a shallow depression usually placed 2-3 meters above ground in thicket or vine tangle. They lay 3-5 eggs, dull white to beige, spotted and blotched with reddish and pale lilac.
Diet
They have a varied diet including seeds, frogs and crabs.
Vocalisations
Mainly at dawn and dusk, gives a repetitive cackling pop-tiyi pop-tiyi co-co-co-co-co or chitico chitico cao-cao-cao. Often several individuals simultaneously singing in a chorus, ending with one individual giving a cri-co.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Taylor, B. (2018). Grey-necked Wood-rail (Aramides cajaneus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/53639 on 18 December 2018).
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2015. IOC World Bird Names (version 5.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- Russet-naped Wood-Rail (Aramides albiventris), In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. retrieved from Neotropical Birds Online: https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/runwor1
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Russet-naped Wood Rail. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 30 April 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Russet-naped_Wood_Rail
