Is this an outstanding year for crakes and rails for some reason?

By Birding-Aus, on January 7th, 2013

I’m located on the far south coast of NSW near Bermagui where I’ve been seeing Spotless Crake (1) and Spotted Crake (up to 3 at a time) in a location where I’ve not seen them before. There’s also Buff-banded Rail there, which is not a surprise Further south in the shire, the crakes are showing up as well. The Canberra bird list has been alive with crake and rail sightings (Spotted, Spotless, Baillon’s, Buff-banded and Lewin’s.) There have also been a few reports of crakes from various places along the east coast from people on this list.

Is this just an excellent year for crakes and rails generally? I’ve been figuring that after so many years of drought followed by a few good, wet seasons that there’s been a lot of breeding inland. Does anyone know about the breeding activity of these groups of birds? Are we seeing dispersals from breeding events inland or locally?

Any thoughts or information welcome. ===============================

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David Adams

January 18, 2013 at 8:43 am

I found a very nice guide to rails and crakes put out by Brisbane City (1.1 MB PDF):

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/2010%20Library/2009%20PDF%20and%20Docs/4.Environment%20and%20Waste/4.7%20Wildlife/environment_and_waste_crakesandrails_new_d6.pdf

The document is a ‘conservation action statement’ with management objectives but also includes summaries of each bird’s key field marks and habits. The guide includes the Bush-hen as well as the three crakes and two rails already discussed. ===============================

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peter

January 17, 2013 at 7:37 pm

Regarding the Lewin’s recordings, the one labelled “krek” is very loud and can be heard hundreds of metres away. It’s often followed by a series of piercing shrieks, which aren’t on that recording. They’re on the BOCA track.

The one labelled “squeaky grunt” can be heard from maybe 20 metres, but is often very soft. You could mistake it for a more distant duck without realising it’s very close.

Don’t be surprised if you hear one almost at your feet, safely hidden in the reeds.

Peter Shute

Sent from my iPad

===============================

January 17, 2013 at 4:28 pm

have

Thanks very much for all of the suggestions regarding the Lewin’s – I’m studying David Stewart’s recordings off of the Morcombe app right now.

seem

Glad you figured out where I actually meant “Spotless”! Your description matches the one bird we watched perfectly. It’s a suprisingly fast little animal.

Thanks! ===============================

January 17, 2013 at 3:56 pm

It would be well worth listening to recordings of Lewin’s Rails because they’re easy to hear if they’re calling) but much harder to spot. In my limited experience, they tend to stay in or very near the reeds, and you have to be lucky to have one stay out on the mud for a while.

I’ve found you can vastly improve your chances by scanning the edges of and into the reeds constantly, with the naked eye occasionally to look for movement, but mostly with binoculars because from 20m away they can come out without you noticing.

They tend to move along feeding for a few seconds, then run for a bit, even if they don’t know you’re there. That means if you’re watching one spot, you can miss them if you don’t watch it constantly.

It’s hard work constantly scanning, and I find it difficult to do it for prolonged periods unless I know there are rails there. But of course I won’t know that unless someone else has seen one, or if I do the hard work (or hear one, or fluke it).

Early morning and evening have been best for me. I’ve seen them near reed beds and in salt marsh with what I think is called Samphire – very low shrubs they can hide under. Almost always when they come out on the mud, but sometimes clambering over reeds, sometimes a glimpse deeper in the reeds or flying to the other side of the water.

I’ve found the constant scanning helpful for Spotless Crakes too, as they seem to work their way along the edge of the reeds, weaving in and out, only visible for a second or two.

January 17, 2013 at 1:31 pm

I’m going to add a bit more to this thread and ask for a bit of help regarding the preferred/ideal habitats for the rails and crakes of southern Australia.

I’m located north of Bermagui on the far south coast of NSW where there’s a very tiny wetland – about 12m across – that I’ve been monitoring. I’ve looked in on this spot off-and-on for nine years and this is the first year that I’ve seen any crakes. There seem to be at least three resident Spotted and we’ve also seen 1 Spotless and a Baillon’s on two occasions. There’s also a resident Buff-banded Rail and more Buff-banded Rails on a larger nearby body of water. This morning, I saw a Buff-banded Rail along the shores of a tidal lake where I’ve never seen one before.

Given the number of reports from people on this list regarding rail and crake sightings around the country, it seems that this really has been an outstanding year for these species. As pointed out, this could easily be overstated if the birds are simply easier to see this year for some reason or combination of reasons – but the reports are from so many locations that it seems reasonable to suspect that they’re also doing really well.

After seeing the Buff-banded Rail this morning, my wife wondered if there are so many birds that the ideal habitats are already occupied and so some birds are pushing out into new areas and less ideal habitats. With that question in mind, can anyone offer some details on what exactly the various species of birds prefer? Here are my impressions so far from my limited observations:

* Australian Spotted Crake Likes exposed mud in or very near to reeds with fresh water.

* Spotted Crake No idea. Fast, secretive – only saw it once. It was sticking to dry reedy/tussock grass areas near fresh water.

* Baillon’s Crake Shy – seems to like fresh water and spends more time on reeds than on mud.

* Buff-banded Rail I’ve seen this in a lot of habitats and locations here and abroad (they’re more common than chooks in Samoa) and they can be quite tame. My impression is that they like fresh-water habitats near grass but this morning I saw one on mud flats adjacent to salt water. Do they like salt water?

* Lewin’s Rail Someone please tell me where they like to be as I’d love to see one 😉

My impressions are just personal field notes and hopelessly incomplete. So, I’m hoping for other impressions, observations and known details to fill in the picture a bit. Given that this is such a good year for these often hard to see birds, I’m trying to learn as much as I can while they’re around.

Also, who eats the crakes? The small wetland I’ve been watching is near to a much larger body of water with plenty of exposed mud and reeds. Yet I’m seeing no crakes. I’m wondering if the crakes are avoided this area because they’re more vulnerable I thought that I’d heard that Purple Swamphen will eat Baillon’s, but the Spotted Crake seems to forage quite contentedly near Purple Swamphens and their chicks. ===============================

david taylor

January 8, 2013 at 6:53 am

Hi Rob and all,

Buff-banded Rails have been particularly prevelenti in Brisbane over the last year or so – I bird a lot around the Murarrie/ Lytton/ Wynnum/ Brisbane Port area over many years – would not see or hear one very often in periods in past years – however keep a close eye on grassy verges in many of these areas and you a good chance – along Lytton Rd Ive seen as many as 5 or 6 on a morning out – fantastic – I do agree a result of the big wet years I would feel.

Having Crakes and Rails around is great!

cheers

David Taylor Brisbane

David and Marg Taylor Brisbane

Ian Reid

January 7, 2013 at 3:31 pm

As a newbie to Australia (at least in birding terms) I don’t know the prevalence of Rails and Crakes around Adelaide, but can report that a 1.5 hour walk around Laratinga Wetlands yesterday evening produced three Baillon’s Crake and numerous (10+) Australian Spotted Crake as well as 3 Black-tailed Native Hens (and still at least three Freckled Ducks). I looked hard for Spotless but without luck, and an information board had a picture of a Bittern. I’d be interested to know if these are known to breed there.

Cheers, Ian

Mark Carter

January 7, 2013 at 2:59 pm

David, Further to John’s comments about WA, I can vouch for conditions in Central Australia (NT and SA) having been optimal for these birds over the la Nina and beyond. Only last month I found breeding Spotted Crake at a remote sewage pond location near Coober Pedy. They had not been recorded in the previous decade there despite rigorous annual surveys. These recent years really have been a fantastic time to be a birder in Australia. Make the most of it- who knows whats coming in the years ahead…

Cheers Mark Carter http://www.desertlife.com.au ===============================

Deb Colbourne

January 7, 2013 at 2:15 pm

Maybe there have been more people looking over the holiday period? I know that we visited maybe 5 days in a row with birding friends from the UK to look for crakes, and saw either Baillons or Spotted or both each time. Goulds is on our way into Hobart and we'll be stopping in there a lot more often from now on. Just wish the locals wouldn't keep pressing their horns for no apparent reason when they drive past!

Debbie ===============================

robert morris

January 7, 2013 at 1:32 pm

There are a lot of crakes and rails being seen in SEQ at the moment. Possibly more than normal. The same is certain for Australian Painted Snipe which seek out similar habitats. I suspect it is a combination of 2 things: a) 3 good wet summers in a row in SEQ, and inland Qld, allowing habitat to rejuvenate and birds to breed well b) a dry spring and early summer exposing a lot of muddy edges so the birds are more visible. I am sure a lot of the rails/crakes were here anyway (e.g. I have heard a lot of Bush-hens, Spotless Crakes and Lewin’s Rails over the last 3 years) – we’re just seeing more as muddy edges are exposed giving ideal viewing conditions. Rob Morris

Brisbane, Australia

pbrooks

January 7, 2013 at 1:18 pm

The arrival of Baillon’s Crake, a bird seldom recorded in Tasmania, is quite conceivably the result of dispersal after good inland breeding. Jez, I think the higher reporting rate of crakes in general at Gould’s Lagoon, however, simply reflects a) the geater search effort by observers wishing to see the rarity, and b) considerably lower water levels than preceding years, meaning crakes are much more visible while feeding on exposed mud.

If the arrival of Baillon’s Crake is the precursor to a dispersal of ‘mainland’ species not usually present here in Tasmania, happy days!

Cheers, Paul

owheelj

January 7, 2013 at 11:47 am

There’s been a lot more than usual crake sightings in Tasmania this year, especially at Gould’s Lagoon on the outskirts of Hobart, especially Aus Spotted and Ballion’s, which have been rarely seen there in the past, but have been seen a lot over the last few weeks. I saw a lot of Buff-banded Rails in South West WA while I was there in September and November, but I have no idea whether those numbers were normal or not.

Jeremy

John Graff

January 7, 2013 at 10:19 am

Hi David, Around Perth for the last two summers we’ve had higher than normal numbers of Australian Spotted Crake, though there doesn’t seem to have been much of a spike in the other species. I assumed this was a result of good conditions inland over the last 2-3 years. We have also had a bit of Black-tailed Native-hen irruption (eased off now), a number of Painted Snipe records (very rare in SW WA usually), and higher than usual numbers of other inland-breeding waterbirds including White-necked Heron, Red-kneed Dotterel and Gull-billed Tern. In addition, irruptions of several arid zone bushbirds, most notably Black & Pied Honeyeaters, and currently Budgerigars, but also small numbers of Little Button-quail and Diamond Dove Cheers,John

Birding-Aus

Is this an outstanding year for crakes and rails for some reason?

13 comments to Is this an outstanding year for crakes and rails for some reason?

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