Giant Wood Rail

Overview

The giant wood rail (Aramides ypecaha) is a large rail species classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It is a year-round resident found across eastern Bolivia, parts of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina.

Identification

• A large bird, 41 to 45 cm in length and potentially up to 53 cm, with a heavy build.
• Features a large mustard-yellow bill, a red eye, and red legs and feet.
• Plumage includes a bluish-gray face and upper chest with a white chin, a rust-red back of the neck, an olive back, and black tail.
• Flanks, breast, and belly are brownish pink.

Habitat

Inhabits lowland wet landscapes such as marshes, lightly wooded swamps, gallery forests, and fields or pastures near water and cover. Its range covers eastern Bolivia, east-central and southeastern Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina.

Diet

Little is known about its specific diet or foraging methods, though it has been recorded digging in soil and carrying a snake. Unlike others of its genus, it forages in the open more frequently.

Did you know?

The species is highly vocal, with several birds gathering to produce an 'astonishingly powerful, even deafening, chorus of screams, shrieks and wheezes' during the day and evening.