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Water Rail
Rallus aquaticus
Identify the Water Rail by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The Water Rail is a slim, laterally compressed rail of dense wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. It is brown above and blue-grey below with barred flanks, a long red bill and a white undertail. It slips through reedbeds and is usually detected by its pig-like squeals. Northern and eastern birds migrate, while others stay year-round.
Did you know?
- Its call famously sounds like a squealing pig.
- Individuals can be recognised by the unique pattern of their white undertail feathers.
Voice
About the species
Identification
A brown-backed rail with a blue-grey face, breast and belly and black-and-white barred flanks. It has a long, thin red bill, reddish legs and very long toes; the short tail is often cocked, showing white undertail coverts. The long red bill, blue-grey underparts and barred flanks separate it from crakes and other reedbed birds.
Family
Rallidae
Size
Medium (thrush)
Colours
brown, grey, black, white, red
About the habitat
Dense freshwater wetlands – reedbeds, sedge fens, wet meadows and vegetated ditches and lake margins – with shallow water and soft mud.
Diet
Omnivorous: mainly insects, larvae, worms and snails, as well as small fish, frogs and even small birds; in winter more berries, seeds and plant material.
Behaviour
A shy skulker, often active at dawn and dusk, that squeezes between reed stems, flicks its short tail and usually runs rather than flies. It is territorial even in winter, defending feeding sites. It gives grunts and pig-like squeals. After breeding it moults all its flight feathers and is flightless for about three weeks. It nests just above the water on a platform of plants.
Sources
Photo: Alexis Lours, CC BY 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Water rail 2022 04 30 01.jpg
Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC705956, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/705956
Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC953924, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/953924
Sound: Mirko Tomasi, XC932351, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/932351
Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_rail
