General
Buff-banded Rail: Chicken-sized rail with chestnut crown, face, and nape, long white eyebrow, brown back and wings with some black and white spotting, and gray underparts with black and white barring on breast and belly. Buff band on breast. Stout red-brown bill. Short brown tail with some black and white barring. Pink-brown legs and feet. Forages on the ground for insects, small lizards, and other small creatures, fruit, carrion, and garbage.
Breeding and Nesting
Buff-banded Rail: Four to six white-pink eggs with black brown blotches are laid in a cup-shaped nest constructed with reeds and grass stems. Nothing is used to line the nest and it is built in dense marsh or grassy vegetation close to the ground and near water. Both sexes incubate the eggs for 19 to 25 days.
Foraging and Feeding
Buff-banded Rail: Feeds on a wide variety of items including insects, tiny lizards, frogs, and other small creatures, fallen fruit, and seeds. It also scavenges carrion and will visit garbage heaps and dumps to look for food. This rail forages by picking food off of the ground with its bill.
Vocalization
Buff-banded Rail: Call is a harsh, squeaky "kreek" note, repeated several times. Also emits low growls, grunts, and hisses.
Similar Species
Buff-banded Rail: Red-legged Crake and Slaty-legged Crake are smaller, have plain rufous heads, throats and upper breasts, and wider barring on undersides.