Red-winged wood rail facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Red-winged wood rail |
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| Conservation status | |
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Aramides
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| Species: |
calopterus
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The red-winged wood rail (Aramides calopterus) is a special kind of bird that belongs to the rail family. These birds are known for being a bit shy and often live near water. You can find the red-winged wood rail in parts of Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru in South America.
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What Kind of Bird Is It?
The red-winged wood rail is the only species in its specific group (called a genus, Aramides). This means it's quite unique! Scientists Philip Sclater and Osbert Salvin first described this bird in 1878.
What Does It Look Like?
The red-winged wood rail is a medium-sized bird, about 31 to 35 centimeters (12 to 14 inches) long. Both male and female birds look very similar.
They have a bill that is yellow-green and bright red eyes. Their legs and feet are a pretty coral red color. The front of their face, their chest, and their belly are dark gray. They have a white throat. The rest of their face and the sides of their neck are a bright reddish-brown color. The feathers on the top of their wings are also reddish-brown. Their back is a brownish-olive color. Their rump, tail, and the feathers under their tail are black.
Where Does It Live?
The red-winged wood rail lives in the western part of the Amazon basin. You can find it in eastern Ecuador, northern and central-eastern Peru, and the western part of the Brazilian state of Amazonas.
This bird likes to live in forests that get flooded during certain times of the year. These are often called igapó forests. It also lives in other types of forests found along streams and rivers.
What Do We Know About Its Behavior?
Scientists don't know much about the red-winged wood rail's daily life. For example, we don't know how it moves around, what it eats, or how it finds its food. We also don't know much about how it raises its young.
It's a very quiet and hard-to-spot bird. As of late 2022, there were only a few recordings of its call. The Xeno-Canto website had three recordings, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library had only one. This makes it hard for scientists to study them.
Is It in Danger?
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has listed the red-winged wood rail as a species of "Least Concern." This means they don't think it's in immediate danger of disappearing.
However, this bird lives in a somewhat small area. Scientists also don't know exactly how many red-winged wood rails there are. They believe the number of birds might be going down. No big threats are known right now.
Because it's so hard to see, its situation in most of the places it lives is unknown. Some experts believe it should be classified as "Data Deficient." This means we need more information to truly understand its status and protect it.
