Birdfinding.info ⇒  Common in several parts of its large range, such as southwestern India, central Thailand, and Taiwan.  It can be found in wetlands within several major metropolitan areas, including Mumbai, Chennai, Bangkok (e.g., Mueang Boran and Lat Krabang), Singapore (e.g., Lorong Talus and Kranji), Taipei, and Jakarta.

Ruddy-breasted Crake

Limnobaenus fuscus

Southern and eastern Asia and Indonesia.

Widespread resident of tropical wetlands throughout the Indian subcontinent from northeastern Pakistan east then throughout Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and Indonesia east to Sulawesi and Timor.

In East Asia, resident north to southern China and central Japan (Kyushu and southern Honshu), including Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands.  Migratory populations breed north across eastern China (to Hebei and Liaoning), the Korean Peninsula, Hokkaido, and southern Sakhalin.

Has been recorded north to Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Primorskiy Kray, and southern Kamchatka.

Identification

A small reddish-and-brown rail with brick-red head and breast, coral-pink legs, and scarlet eyes.

The upperparts, including the nape and hindcrown, are unmarked medium-brown.

The lower belly and undertail are blackish with thin white bars.

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary, Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India; February 2, 2020.)  © Harish Thangaraj

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Thawi Watthana, Nonthaburi, Thailand; March 4, 2017.)  © Natthaphat Chotjuckdikul

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Mangalajodi, Khordha, Odisha, India; December 29, 2016.)  © Biplab Kumar Mukhopadhyay

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Batu Kawan, Penang, Malaysia; February 25, 2020.)  © Harn Sheng Khor

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Khordha, Odisha, India; February 11, 2018.)  © Gopi Krishna

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Mae Taeng Irrigation Project, Chiang Mai, Thailand; February 7, 2020.)  © Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok

Ruddy-breasted Crake, showing narrow white bars on black belly and undertail.  (Satay by the Bay, Singapore; May 22, 2016.)  © Karyne Wee

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Mukim, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia; April 23, 2019.)  © Dave Bakewell

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Taipei, Taiwan; April 15, 2012.)  © 洪廷維

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Mukim, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia; April 23, 2019.)  © Dave Bakewell

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary, Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India; February 2, 2020.)  © Harish Thangaraj

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Aniyali, Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India; February 21, 2020.)  © Sneha Gupta

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Ban Song Pe Nong, Phetchaburi, Thailand; January 17, 2020.)  © Ian Dugdale

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Taipei, Taiwan; April 15, 2012.)  © 洪廷維

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Manjeera Wildlife Sanctuary, Medak, Telangana, India; July 9, 2017.)  © Phani Krishna Ravi

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Thawi Watthana, Nonthaburi, Thailand; February 7, 2017.)  © Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Mangalajodi, Odisha, India; January 28, 2020.)  © Uday Agash

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Long Valley, Hong Kong; December 31, 2013.)  © Lo Chun Fai

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Mukim, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia; April 25, 2019.)  © Dave Bakewell

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Satay by the Bay, Singapore; August 19, 2016.)  © Malcolm Graham

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Taipei, Taiwan; April 15, 2012.)  © 洪廷維

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Mangalajodi, Khordha, Odisha, India; January 24, 2019.)  © Mallika Rajasekaran

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Mangalajodi Wetlands, Tangi, Odisha, Khordha, Odisha, India; January 25, 2018.)  © Balaji P.B.

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Batu Kawan, Penang, Malaysia; February 18, 2020.)  © Harn Sheng Khor

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Batu Kawan, Penang, Malaysia; February 25, 2020.)  © Harn Sheng Khor

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Basai Wetland, Gurgaon, Haryana, India; March 17, 2015.)  © Savithri Singh

Ruddy-breasted Crake.  (Taipei, Taiwan; January 1, 2015.)  © 洪廷維

Ruddy-breasted Crake, likely an immature with whitish patches on throat and belly.  (Omigawa, Ibaraki, Honshu, Japan; June 7, 2017.)  © Lars Petersson

Ruddy-breasted Crake, showing plain-brown wings.  (Singapore; July 19, 2018.)  © hbt

Voice.  Advertising call heard mainly at dawn and dusk is a liquid-toned trill that begins with widely spaced notes, then accelerates: Also gives harsher, percussive trills:

Cf. Band-bellied Crake.  Ruddy-breasted and Band-bellied Crakes are sibling species that share the same general pattern and coloration and overlap extensively in distribution (although Ruddy-breasted is far more numerous than Band-bellied).  The most conspicuous difference between them is Band-bellied’s bolder and more extensive black-and-white barring on the belly—wider white bars than Ruddy-breasted’s, and extending forward of the legs.

The other differences are features that vary within each species and have some potential for overlap.  Compared to Ruddy-breasted, Band-bellied generally appears washed-out, paler and duller.  Band-bellied also has more extensive brown on the crown—extending forward of the eyes, whereas Ruddy-breasted’s crown is mostly reddish.  Band-bellied’s legs are usually a blend of pink with gray, whereas Ruddy-breasted’s are bright coral-pink or orangish.  Finally, both have red or reddish eyes, but Ruddy-breasted’s appear more vivid, in part because its orbital skin is usually red, whereas Band-bellied’s orbital skin is dull.

Notes

Polytypic species consisting of four recognized subspecies.

References

BirdLife International. 2016. Zapornia fusca. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22692699A93365192. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22692699A93365192.en. (Accessed October 20, 2020.)

Brazil, M. 2009. Birds of East Asia. Princeton University Press.

eBird. 2020. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed October 20, 2020.)

Ripley, S.D. 1977. Rails of the World: A Monograph of the Family Rallidae. David R. Godine, Publisher, Boston.

Robson, C. 2002. Birds of Thailand. Princeton University Press.

Taylor, B., and B. van Perlo. 1998. Rails: A Guide to the Rails, Crakes, Gallinules, and Coots of the World. Yale University Press.

Xeno-Canto. 2020. Ruddy-breasted Crake – Porzana fusca. https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Porzana-fusca. (Accessed October 20, 2020.)