Band-bellied Crake Zapornia paykullii 斑脇田雞
Category I. Very rare migrant in densely-vegetated areas.
IDENTIFICATION
May 2009, Martin Hale. Adult.
20-22 cm. Typically between Ruddy-breasted Crake and Slaty-legged Crake in size. Very similar to the latter species, but differs in having darker, colder-brown upperparts, extending to the crown, more extensive chestnut below with less extensive flank-barring, paler, orange-toned red legs and a greenish bill. Also shows some whitish and dark bars on the wing-coverts.
VOCALISATIONS
The song is distinctive, a moderately-pitched sharp rattle.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
The sole record of a live bird in typical habitat occurred in dense shrubland on HK Island.
OCCURRENCE
1977: an adult male found dead at Jardine's Lookout on 11 October.
1996: an adult female found dead near the entrance to Shing Mun Tunnel at Wo Yi Hop near Tsuen Wan on 13 May.
2003: an adult female picked up in Pitt Street, Yau Ma Tei on 15 November; after rehabilitation it was released at Mai Po NR on 19 November.
2009: an adult female in the grounds of Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre, Hong Kong University, from 5 to 8 May.
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
The only bird that was seen in the field foraged unobtrusively on or just above the forest floor.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
Monotypic. Breeds in northeast China and adjacent parts of the Russian Far East, and, probably, North Korea; winters in disjunct areas of southeast Asia, Sumatra, Java and Borneo (Taylor and Bonan 2020). In China occurs on passage through much of the east (Cheng 1987, Liu and Chen 2021).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Near Threatened. Population trend: no data but suspected of being in decline due to agricultural intensification in its breeding areas.
Cheng, T. H. (1987). A Synopsis of the Avifauna of China. Science Press, Beijing.
Taylor, B. and A. Bonan (2020). Band-bellied Crake (Zapornia paykullii), 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.babcra1.01
Liu, Y. and S. H. Chen (eds) (2021). The CNG Field Guide to the Birds of China (in Chinese). Hunan Science and Technology Publication House, Changsha.
