Keeling rail rail
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Keeling rail ( Gallirallus philippensis andrewsi ) |
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| Gallirallus philippensis andrewsi | ||||||||||||
| ( Mathews , 1911) |
The Keeling rail rail ( Gallirallus philippensis andrewsi ) is an endangered endemic subspecies of the rail rail , which is native to the Cocos Islands . The native inhabitants of the islands, the Cocos Malays , also call the Keeling rail rail Ayam hutan ("grouse").
Appearance
The male of the Keeling bandage rail reaches a body length of 30 cm. The females a length of 28 cm. The tail length is 7 cm, the wings 14 cm and the beak 4 cm.
Both sexes have a similar appearance. The head is strikingly colored with a black parting, white eyebrows and brown eye stripes. The neck is light with a transition of dark gray-black feathers with a brown tinge on the back. The back is strongly spotted with white up to the rump. The throat of the Keeling bandage rail is white and the underside of the neck is light gray. The elytra and the tail are piebald black and brown and have white spots. There are also white stripes on the tail. The sides of the neck and nape are light gray. Shoulders, chest and stomach are striated in black and white. The origin of the name of the Keeling bandage rail is due to its cinnamon-brown cross band that stretches across the chest. The eyes are red, the beak brown, and the legs and feet are light brown. Young birds are not brown in the neck area and have brown eyes instead of red.
habitat
This subspecies of the spider rail occurs exclusively on North Keeling , a northern atoll of the Cocos Islands. On the southern atolls, the Keeling rail rail is already extinct. It is found in all parts of the island on North Keeling. It is also found on lagoons and near coconut trees. It is very often found in dense, shady vegetation.
Way of life
The Keeling's common rail is a secretly living species. It is most likely to be seen when foraging in the tidal zone on the beach of the lagoon. There she often searches the stranded seaweed for crustaceans and insects. Occasionally it can also be seen on forest floors, where it pecks for ants and other small invertebrates.
Reproduction
The nest is a simple construction made up of leaves, twigs and sea bird feathers. The Keeling rail rail builds this at a height of about one meter in the leaf axils of young coconut palms, on fallen Pisonia trees and in similar places. The clutch consists of 3 to 6 beige-colored, red-speckled, rounded eggs. While the young Keeling bandages hatch, the parents stay on the ground below the nest. As soon as their down plumage has dried, the young birds jump out of the nest and join their parents. At this point they can run very quickly and if they are concerned they will immediately save themselves to the next shadow in the undergrowth.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Keeling-Bindenrale. Retrieved December 7, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d e Hypotaenidia philippensis andrewsi - Buff-banded Rail (Cocos (Keeling) Islands), Ayam Hutan. (Australian) Department of the Environment, accessed December 7, 2019 .
- ^ Brydie Hill: National recovery plan for the Buff Banded Rail (Cocos (Keeling) Islands): Gallirallus philippensis andrewsi. Dept. of the Environment & Heritage, Canberra 2006, ISBN 0-642-55226-6 .
- ^ Julian RW Reid, Brydie M. Hill: Recent Surveys of the Cocos Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis andrewsi) . Canberra 2005, ISBN 0-642-55193-6 .
- ^ Gabriel M. Crowley, Stephen T. Garnett: The action plan for Australian birds, 2000 . Environment Australia, Canberra, ACT 2000, ISBN 0-642-54683-5 .