The Colombian crake (''Neocrex colombiana'') is a species of bird in the subfamily Rallinae of the rail, crake, and coot family Rallidae. It is found in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, Ecuador, and Panama.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip retrieved August 7, 2022

Taxonomy and systematics

The Colombian crake's taxonomy has not been settled. The North American Classification Committee of AOS (NACC), the International Ornithological Committee (IOC), and

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

's ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

'' (HBW) place it in genus ''Neocrex''. However, in 2015 the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (AOS) and the Clements taxonomy moved it and the

paint-billed crake The paint-billed crake (''Neocrex erythrops'') is a species of bird in the subfamily Rallinae of the rail, crake, and coot family Rallidae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digit ...

(''N. erythrops'') to genus ''Mustelirallus''.Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, R. A. Jiménez, A. W. Kratter, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2022. Check-list of North American Birds (online). American Ornithological Society. https://checklist.aou.org/taxaClements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021 This article uses the IOC/NACC/HBW genus. The IOC, HBW, and Clements agree that the paint-billed crake has two subspecies, the nominate ''N. c. colombiana'' and ''N. c. ripleyi''.

Description

The Colombian crake is long. The sexes are alike. The nominate subspecies has a brown crown, nape, and upperparts including the tail. Its throat is white and its face, throat, and breast are gray. Its flanks, belly, and vent are cinnamon. ''N. c. ripleyi'' is similar but significantly darker.Taylor, B. and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Colombian Crake (''Mustelirallus colombianus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.colcra2.01 retrieved October 13, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of Colombian crake is found from northern Colombia south into northwestern Ecuador. ''N. c. ripleyi'' is found from central Panama into northwestern Colombia's Chocó Department. There are few records of the species and the exact boundaries of the two subspecies' ranges are not known. The species inhabits wet to moist landscapes such as marshes, swamps, savanna, and the brushy edges of forest; not all of these have water bodies. In elevation it ranges from sea level to .

Behavior

Movement

The Colombian crake is considered to be sedentary.

Feeding

Nothing is known about the Colombian crake's feeding habits or diet. They are assumed to be similar to those of its closest relative, the paint-billed crake. That species forages in soil, leaf litter, and standing water, and at dawn and dusk has been noted feeding in open areas next to dense vegetation. It is known to eat invertebrates including Diplopoda and

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

and also seeds.Taylor, B., A. Bonan, P. F. D. Boesman, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Paint-billed Crake (''Mustelirallus erythrops''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.pabcra.01 retrieved October 12, 2022

Breeding

The Colombian crake's breeding season is not fully defined but appears to include at least December to February. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocalization

As of late 2022 xeno-canto had only one recording of a Colombian crake vocalization and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library had none. That recording is of an immature bird being held by a researcher and is judged to be a distress call.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

originally assessed the Colombian crake in 1988 as Near Threatened, then in 1994 as Unknown, and since 2000 as Data Deficient. "It is very poorly known and its status, distribution and natural history demand urgent attention". "Nevertheless, there appears to be ample suitable habitat for henominate subspecies in W Colombia and Ecuador."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1269548 Colombian crake Birds of Colombia Birds of Panama Birds of the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Colombian crake Taxonomy articles created by Polbot