Baillon's Crake

About the Baillon's Crake

Baillon's crake (Zapornia pusilla), also known as the marsh crake, is a small waterbird of the family Rallidae. Their breeding habitat is sedge beds and swamps, ranging from Eastern Europe to Honshu in Japan. The total breeding population in Europe as of 2016 was suspected to be 4,000 to 9,000 individuals. They used to breed in Great Britain up to the mid-19th century, but the Hungarian population declined in the 20th century due to wetland drainage. There has been a recovery in north-western Europe in recent years, with the recolonisation of Germany and the Netherlands, and breeding suspected in Britain; an Irish record in 2012 was the first there since the 1850s. They nest in dry locations in wet sedge bogs, laying 4–8 eggs. This species is migratory, wintering in East Africa and South Asia, as well as being a resident breeder in Africa and Australasia.

There is a single North American record of this species on Attu Island in September 2000. There are at least five subspecies of Baillon's crake: Zapornia pusilla affinis in New Zealand Zapornia pusilla palustris in Australia and New Guinea

Zapornia pusilla mira in Borneo Zapornia pusilla intermedia... Wikipedia →