Rallus aquaticus, Print, The water rail (Rallus aquaticus) is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this species is a permanent resident in the warmer parts of its breeding range. The adult is 23–28 cm (9–11 in) long, and, like other rails, has a body that is flattened laterally, allowing it easier passage through the reed beds it inhabits. It has mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey underparts, black barring on the flanks, long toes, a short tail and a long reddish bill
Rallus aquaticus, Print, The water rail (Rallus aquaticus) is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this species is a permanent resident in the warmer parts of its breeding range. The adult is 23–28 cm (9–11 in) long, and, like other rails, has a body that is flattened laterally, allowing it easier passage through the reed beds it inhabits. It has mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey underparts, black barring on the flanks, long toes, a short tail and a long reddish bill. Immature birds are generally similar in appearance to the adults, but the blue-grey in the plumage is replaced by buff. The downy chicks are black, as with all rails. The former subspecies R. indicus, has distinctive markings and a call that is very different from the pig-like squeal of the western races, and is now usually split as a separate species, the brown-cheeked rail., 1700-1880
Size: 3438px × 4608px
Location:
Photo credit: © Artokoloro / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -vegetated, 23–28, 9–11, adult, adults, africa, appearance, aquaticus, asia, barring, beds, bill, bird, birds, black, blue-grey, body, breeding, breeds, brown, buff, call, chicks, cm, distinctive, downy, easier, eastern, europe, family, flanks, flattened, generally, immature, indicus, inhabits, laterally, long, markings, migratory, north, northern, parts, passage, permanent, pig-, plumage, populations, print, races, rail, rails, rallus, range, reddish, reed, replaced, resident, short, species, squeal, subspecies, tail, toes, underparts, upperparts, warmer, water, western, wetlands
