A photo of a African Rail (Rallus caerulescens)
African Rail

African Rail

Rallus caerulescens

The African rail (Rallus caerulescens) is a small wetland bird of the rail family that is found in eastern and southern Africa. Adults are 27–28 cm long, and have mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey underparts, with black-and-white barring on the flanks and undertail. The sexes have similar plumage but the female is smaller. This is the only Rallus species with a plain back. The body is flattened laterally to allow easier passage through the reeds. They have long toes, a short tail and a long slim dull red bill. The legs are red. Immature birds are similar to the adults, but the blue-grey is replaced by buff. They are noisy birds, with a trilled whistled treee-tee-tee-tee-tee call.
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African Rails on Birda

Sightings

A map showing the sighting location
🦉
Julian Lees
Sunday 19 Feb 2023 - 5:06am
South Africa
A map showing the sighting location
🦅
Ernst Retief
Saturday 10 Sep 2022 - 6:13am
South Africa
A map showing the sighting location
🦢
Stephen Davies
Tuesday 12 Nov 2019 - 6:21am
Namibia
A map showing the sighting location
🦅
Andre Meintjes
Saturday 01 Jul 2017 - 10:39am
South Africa
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