Rails, Coots and Cranes

This photo album comprises a gallery that features bird portraits of Rails and Coots (Rallidae) and Cranes (Gruidae) see Taxonomy note below. I photographed these birds in both wetland and garden habitat.

Rails, Coots and Cranes

Brolga (Antigone rubicunda) at Arnhem Highway in Kakadu National Park

Weka (Gallirallus australis) at Kahurangi National Park, West Coast of New Zealand

Weka (Gallirallus australis) pale bird at Lake Mahinapua on West Coast of New Zealand

Ruddy-breasted Crake (Zapornia fusca) at Satay by the Bay in Singapore

Red-legged Crake (Rallina fasciata) adult foraging at Singapore Botanic Gardens

Red-legged Crake (Rallina fasciata) chick at Singapore Botanic Gardens

Red-legged Crake (Rallina fasciata) immature at Singapore Botanic Gardens

Australian Crake (Porzana fluminea) foraging in the water at Laratinga Wetlands near Adelaide

White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) at Sundial Garden in Singapore Botanic Gardens

Australasian Swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus) at Farewell Spit Nature Reserve in New Zealand

Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinicus/martinica) at La Vaga in Trinidad

Tasmanian Native-hen (Tribonyx mortierii) at Ronny Creek in Cradle Mountain National Park, Tasmania

Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) at Basingstoke Canal in Hampshire

Common Coot (Fulica atra) tending nest at Basingstoke Canal in Hampshire

Andean Coot (Fulica ardesiaca) red fronted morph at Laguna de Mica in Antisana Ecological Reserve, Ecuador

Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa) on the ground at Adelaide Botanic Gardens

Rails, Coots and Cranes Notes

The ‘Red List 2019’ of threatened species lists the Weka as ‘Vulnerable’ and all other featured species as ‘Least Concern’.

My only crane photograph is the monotypic Brolga part of the Gruidae family and native to North and East Australia with a small population in New Guinea.

The Weka (Gallirallus australis) belongs to the Rallinae (Long-billed Rails and allies) subfamily. It is a flightless bird; the nominate and ssp G. A. scotti have variable plumage with chestnut, grey and black morphs. They are endemic to New Zealand where I photographed both pale and dark forms in scrub near the sea on the West Coast of the South Island.

The gallery displays five species from subfamily Porphyrioninae: Two Old-World Crakes (tribe Zapornini); one Waterhen (Himantornithini); one Purple Gallinule and one Swamphen both tribe Porphyrionini. The crakes and Waterhen were foraging in urban gardens and the Gallinule and Swamphen in a rural wetland habitat.

The final group of five images belong to subfamily Gallinulinae (tribe Gallinulini): Two coots, two moorhens and one native-hen.

Rails, Coots and Cranes Taxonomy

Gruiformes comprise five families, members of two feature in the gallery: Gruidae (Cranes) and Rallidae (Rails, Gallinules, and Coots). Rallidae divides into three subfamilies:
(a) Rallinae (Long-billed Rails and allies),
(b) Gallinulinae further divided into two tribes: (i) Pardirallini (Wood-Rails and allies) and (ii) Gallinulini (Coots, True Gallinules and Moorhens).
(c) Porphyrioninae divided into four tribes: (i) Porphyrionini (Purple Gallinules and Swamphens), (ii) Himantornithini (Bush-hens and Waterhens), (iii) Zapornini (Old World Crakes), and (Iv) Laterallini (New World Crakes).

Note that the scientific name for the Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinicus) name changed to P. martinica J Boyd, Clements and IOC World Bord Names refers.