Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Gruiformes > Rallidae > Rallus > Rallus aquaticus

Rallus aquaticus (Water Rail)

Wikipedia Abstract

The water rail (Rallus aquaticus) is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this species is a permanent resident in the warmer parts of its breeding range. The adult is 23–28 cm (9–11 in) long, and, like other rails, has a body that is flattened laterally, allowing it easier passage through the reed beds it inhabits. It has mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey underparts, black barring on the flanks, long toes, a short tail and a long reddish bill. Immature birds are generally similar in appearance to the adults, but the blue-grey in the plumage is replaced by buff. The downy chicks are black, as with all rails. The brown-cheeked rail, R. indicus, has distinctive markings a
View Wikipedia Record: Rallus aquaticus

Infraspecies

Rallus aquaticus aquaticus (Water rail)
Rallus aquaticus hibernans (Icelandic water rail)
Rallus aquaticus indicus (Eastern Water Rail)
Rallus aquaticus korejewi (Central water rail)

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
3
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
22
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 8.0881
EDGE Score: 2.20697
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  129 grams
Birth Weight [2]  8 grams
Female Weight [5]  98 grams
Male Weight [5]  125 grams
Weight Dimorphism [5]  27.6 %
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Piscivore, Frugivore, Granivore, Herbivore
Diet - Ectothermic [3]  10 %
Diet - Endothermic [3]  20 %
Diet - Fish [3]  10 %
Diet - Fruit [3]  10 %
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  20 %
Diet - Plants [3]  20 %
Diet - Seeds [3]  10 %
Forages - Understory [3]  10 %
Forages - Ground [3]  40 %
Forages - Water Surface [3]  40 %
Forages - Underwater [3]  10 %
Clutch Size [7]  8
Clutches / Year [2]  2
Fledging [2]  53 days
Incubation [6]  20 days
Mating Display [8]  Ground display
Maximum Longevity [4]  9 years
Migration [9]  Intercontinental
Wing Span [6]  17 inches (.42 m)
Female Maturity [4]  1 year
Male Maturity [4]  1 year

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

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Biodiversity Hotspots

Predators

Aquila clanga (Greater Spotted Eagle)[10]

Consumers

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Storchová, Lenka; Hořák, David (2018), Data from: Life-history characteristics of European birds, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n6k3n
♦ 2Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 5Cramp, S.; Simmons, K.E.L.; Perrins, C.M. 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa Vols 1-9. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
♦ 6British Trust for Ornithology
♦ 7Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 8Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 9Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 10WINTER DIET OF THE GREATER SPOTTED EAGLE (AQUILA CLANGA) IN THE AMVRAKIKOS WETLANDS, GREECE, HARALAMBOS ALIVIZATOS, DIMITRIS PAPANDROPOULOS, STAMATIS ZOGARIS, J Raptor Res. 38(4):371-374
♦ 11Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0