Bandage rail
| Bandage rail | ||||||||||||
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Union Rail, Lord Howe Island |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Gallirallus philippensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1766) |
The bandage rail ( Gallirallus philippensis , Syn . : Hypotaenidia philippensis ) is a type of rail that belongs to the species of the genus Rallina . It is a medium to large, long-tailed rallen species that occurs from the Philippines to Australia and New Zealand.
The stock situation of the binding rail is given as 
(= least concern - not endangered). Numerous subspecies are distinguished.
Appearance
The bandage rail reaches a body length of 30 to 33 centimeters, of which 5.4 to 7.8 centimeters are on the tail. The wing measures 13 to 15.6 centimeters. The beak length is 2.2 to 4.1 centimeters. They weigh between 115 and 265 grams. There is no noticeable gender dimorphism .
Adult birds
The forehead, the crown of the head, the nape of the neck and the upper, rear neck are matt chestnut-colored with fine black dashes. A wide chestnut-colored band runs from the beak over the eyes to the sides of the neck and the lower rear neck. It stands out clearly from the white chin and the gray-white lower cheeks as well as the throat and is bordered at the top by a narrow white stripe over the eyes. A thin, crescent-shaped line runs below the eye. The coat, the back and the wings are brown olive with black feathers and white spots. The spots on the rump and on the upper tail-coverts are a little less pronounced. The tail is olive-brown with black feathers.
The white chin merges into a light gray front neck. The lower sides of the neck, the chest and the flanks are narrowly banded in black and white. A red-brown band runs across the middle of the chest and can vary in width. The belly and rump are white, the under tail-coverts are pale reddish brown. The beak is dark pink with a darker beak tip. the iris is deep red. The legs are matt gray to pinkish gray.
Fledglings
Young birds are distinguished by a dull brown on the forehead, crown, neck and neck. The red-brown stripe that runs from the beak over the eye along the sides of the neck is brown or dull chestnut brown in them and less clearly drawn than in adult birds. The top of the body is not so strongly spotted white, the reddish-brown chest band is darkly spotted and the transverse markings are more dull and still a little brownish. The iris is darker than that of the adult birds, the beak is shorter and more brownish than that of the adult birds.
Possible confusion
Due to the color of the head, the bandage rail can hardly be confused with any other type of rail. A distant similarity exists with the crawfish ( Lewinia pectoralis ).
Distribution area
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The spider rail is a species widespread in Southeast Asia (Philippines to Indonesia), New Guinea and New Zealand, Australia and numerous islands in this region. The following subspecies are distinguished:
- G. p. admiralitatis (Stresemann, 1929), Admiralty Islands
- G. p. anachoretae (Mayr, 1949), Kaniet Islands , a group of two nearby uninhabited atolls or islands in the region of the Western Islands of the Bismarck Archipelago
- G. p. andrewsi (Mathews, 1911), Cocos Islands , a group of islands in the Indian Ocean , 960 km southwest of Christmas Island and more than 1000 km southwest of Java and Sumatra . The subspecies found there is considered endangered.
- G. p. assimilis (GR Gray, 1843), New Zealand
- G. p. chlandleri , north of Sulawesi
- G. p. christophori (Mayr, 1938), Solomon Islands
- G. p. dieffenbachi , Chatham Islands , extinct
- G. p. ecaudata (JF Miller, 1783), Tonga , an archipelago of 176 islands and atolls in the Pacific east of Fiji .
- G. p. goodsoni (Mathews, 1911), Samoa and Niue Islands
- G. p. lacustris (Mayr, 1938), New Guinea
- G. p. lesouefi (Mathews, 1911), Lavongai , Tabar and Tanga Islands , possibly New Ireland as well
- G. p. macquariensis (Hutton, 1879), Macquarie Island , extinct
- G. p. mellori (Mathews, 1912), Tasmania and mainland Australia
- G. p. meyeri (Hartert, 1930), Vitu Islands , a group of eight volcanic islands north of New Britain in the Bismarck Archipelago
- G. p. pelewensis (Mayr, 1933), Palau
- G. p. philippensis (Linnaeus, 1766), Philippines , Sulawesi , Buru, and Sunda Islands
- G. p. praedo (Mayr, 1949), an island in the Admiralty Islands
- G. p. randi (Mayr & Gilliard, 1951). West New Guinea
- G. p. reductus (Mayr, 1938), northern New Guinea
- G. p. sethsmithi (Mathews, 1911), Vanuatu , Fiji
- G. p. swindellsi (Mathews, 1911), New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands
- G. p. tounelieri Schodde & Naurois , 1982, Coral Sea Islands
- G. p. wahgiensis (Mayr & Gilliard, 1951), New Guinea highlands
- G. p. wilkinsoni (Mathews, 1911), Flores
- G. p. xerophilus (Bemmel & Hoogerwerf , 1940), Gunungapi, north of the Lesser Sunda Islands.
- G. p. yorki , Moluccas, western and southern New Guinea.
On Lord Howe Island , the arachnid was either established around 1880 or the island was naturally colonized by some arboreal around this time.
The migratory movements of the bandage rail have so far been little studied. This is also due to the fact that it is a very shy bird during the breeding season, which is difficult to observe. In the north of Australia it is considered to be a resident bird , but there seems to be a greater dispersal movement of young birds and during the dry season, spider rail leaves their previous habitat.
habitat
The binding rail colonizes wetlands, both fresh water, brackish water and salt water. It occurs in estuaries, salt marshes and tidal marshes, on lakes and lagoons and along rivers. Occasionally, however, it also occurs in open grasslands and even pasture land, very rarely in heathland, forests and remnants of rainforests. It rests and seeks shelter in reed fields or tall grasses as well as in bushland.
Way of life
The Union Rail lives solitary or in pairs, only rarely does it come to large accumulations of this species in dense vegetation in the transition zones of wetlands. The Union Rail is a shy and clandestine species that can usually only be seen in the early morning and late evening hours. She always stays close to cover, where she retreats as soon as she feels disturbed. The diet consists mainly of crustaceans, mussels, worms and insects. In addition, it occasionally eats young plants and seeds, fruits, frogs, eggs and even carrion and waste. the food either picks them up from the ground or from the surface of plants. A few prey animals are also found in the water. It is predominantly crepuscular, but also searches for food during the day and occasionally at night.
On land she moves slowly in a crouched position. The tail plumage is raised and moved quickly again and again. The neck is usually stretched out far forward, only occasionally it is raised. She seldom flies out and prefers to take cover on foot.
Reproduction
The breeding season varies with the latitude. In the south of Australia it breeds from September to February and sometimes raises up to three broods. In northern Australia, the breeding season also begins in September, but continues until March. In New Zealand, however, it only breeds between September and December. If it is disturbed at the nest, it often shifts its clutch and carries the eggs one by one to the new nest location.
The binding rail is a ground breeder. The nest is built in tall grass, in grass florets or in thickets of reeds. The full clutch consists of five to eight eggs. They are laid by the female every 24 hours; the laying time is either at night or in the early morning. Both parent birds breed, the breeding season only begins after the clutch is complete. The breeding season is 18 to 19 days. The young birds hatch largely synchronously and leave the nest after about 24 hours. They are led by both parent birds until they are fully grown. They are able to find their food independently at a very early age and are only very rarely fed by the female parent bird. At around two months of age, the young birds are fully grown and can fly.
literature
- Bruce M. Beehler, Thane K. Pratt: Birds of New Guinea; Distribution, Taxonomy, and Systematics . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-16424-3 .
- PJ Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds , Volume 2, Raptors to Lapwings, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1993, ISBN 0-19-553069-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Handbook of the Birds of the World zur Bindenralle accessed on May 28, 2017.
- ↑ a b Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 495.
- ↑ Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 503.
- ^ Commonwealth of Australia. (2005). National Recovery Plan for the Buff-banded Rail (Cocos (Keeling) Islands) Gallirallus philippensis andrewsi . Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra. ISBN 0-642-55226-6
- ↑ a b c Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 498.
- ↑ Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 496.
- ↑ a b Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 501.