Little Crakes
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The Little Crake (Porzana parva) is a very small waterbird of the family Rallidae, which includes the rails, crakes, coots, and gallinules.
Distribution / Habitat:
Their breeding habitats are the reedbeds in Europe, mainly in the east, and just into western Asia. This species is migratory, wintering in Africa.
Little Crakes are very secretive in the breeding season, and are then mostly heard rather than seen.
They nest in a dry location in reed vegetation. The female lays 4 to 7 eggs.
Description:
At 17-19 cm length, they are slightly smaller than Spotted Crakes, from which they are readily distinguished by the lack of dark barring and white spots on the flanks. They are more similar to Baillon's Crake.
They have a short straight bills, which are yellow in color with a red base.
Adult males have mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey face and underparts. They have green legs with long toes, and a short tail which is barred black and white underneath.
Females have buff underparts, and are grey only on the face. Immature Little Crakes are similar to the female but have a white face and breast. The downy chicks are black, as with all rails.
Diet:
These birds mainly eat insects and aquatic animals.
Song / Call:
They are then noisy birds, with a yapping kua call.
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