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Bird name:

Corn Crake

Crex crexOrder: GRUIFORMES Family: Rails and Coots (Rallidae)

Codes: Common Name: CORC Scientific Name: CRECRE ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176277

Head

Topo Map: Chicken-like-Marsh Head

Bill Shape: All-purpose
Eye Color: Dark brown.
Head Pattern: Striped
Crown Color: Buff-yellow with black streaking.
Forehead Color: Buff-yellow with black streaking.
Nape Color: Buff-yellow with black streaking.
Throat Color: Pale Buff
Cere color: No Data

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Body

Topo Map: Chicken-like-Marsh Body

Length Range: 22-25 cm (8.6-9.8 in)
Weight: 170 g (6 oz)
Size: Size 3. Medium (9 - 16 in)
Color: Red, Brown, Black
Underparts: Pale buff and red-brown flanks with brown barring.
Upperparts: Buff-yellow with black spotting.
Back Pattern: Striped or streaked
Belly Pattern: Barred or banded
Breast Pattern: Solid

Flight

Topo Map: Chicken-like-Marsh Flight

Flight Pattern: Flight is weak and flappy with legs dangling.
Wingspan Range: 42-53 cm (16.5-20.9 in)
Wing Shape: Pointed-Wings
Tail Shape: Pointed Tail
Tail Pattern: Striped
Upper Tail: Buff-yellow with black spotting.
Under Tail: Buff-yellow with black spotting.
Leg Color: Gray-brown

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Corn Crake

Corn Crake: Medium rail, buff-yellow overall with brown-barred flanks, conspicuous chestnut wing patch, gray head and neck with dark crown, yellow bill. Eats worms, insects, snails, slugs, sometimes seeds and grains. Weak flight with legs dangling, drops back into vegetation after a short distance.

● Song: "crex-crex"

● Foraging & Feeding: Corn Crake: Very active feeder but normally stays within dense grasses and meadow vegetation as it hunts for a wide variety of insects, invertebrates, clams, and small vertebrates. Also consumes some foliage and seeds.

● Breeding & nesting: Corn Crake: Nest is a shallow cup built among dense grasses or vegetation in meadows. Lays eight to twelve pale green eggs with red brown spots. Eggs and chicks tended only by female, while male may mate with additional females. Incubation 16 to 19 days. Chicks begin flying when 34 to 38 days old.

● Similar species: Corn Crake: Sora juvenile is slightly smaller, lacks chestnut wing patch, chestnut-brown back lacks distinctive mottling, and white undertail coverts lack barring.

Flight Pattern

Flight is weak and flappy with legs dangling.

● Range & Habitat: Corn Crake: Very rare fall visitor to the east coast, but sightings have dropped significantly as European populations have declined.

^BreedingSolitary nester, Polyandrous

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight6 Ounces

Chicken-like-Marsh Head

Chicken-like-Marsh Body

Chicken-like-Marsh Flight

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Corn Crake

Head

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Body

Flight

Corn Crake

Flight Pattern