Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Ruddy-breasted Crakes

I spotted this pair of Ruddy-breasted Crakes (Porzana fusca) feeding on the open edge of a lotus field about two weeks ago. The birds were not as wary as the other Ruddy-breasted Crakes I've found around here, so I walked in and set up my blind around where the birds often came out. After sitting still for quite a while, the birds slowly merged out from the thick green grass and quickly walked pass the open track down to the lotus field. I had a great time watching them feeding happily and the birds didn't seem to care much about me sitting there.
This one is a male bird. It has much darker ruddy colouration on its face and underparts.
It also brought some food back as a present for the female bird.

And here is a female. You can see that it's distinctly paler than the other one.

I took too many photos of this pair I guess...so there will be more entries of these birds to come in the near future. Last time I checked, which was last week, only the male bird came out feeding in the lotus field. I guess the female bird must have been very busy incubating the eggs somewhere inside the reedbed.

4 comments:

Stuart Price said...

A bird I haven't seen in Japan yet, you got some great photos of it......

martesorex said...

Oh, good work.

I've ever seen ヒクイナ only once two years ago in Tokyo.

Phil Slade said...

Great work Ayuwat. All crakes seem difficult to get close to, unless it's icy here when Water Rails cant stay in the shallows.

Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok said...

Thanks a lot Stu, martesorex and Phil!
I think it's because this species prefers tropical weather, so it's quite common in the south. It's also a common species in Thailand as well.