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Corn Crake

Crex crexOrder: GRUIFORMESFamily: Rails and Coots (Rallidae)
Corn Crake Head Illustration

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
Corn Crake Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 22-25 cm (8.6-9.8 in)
  • Weight: 170 g (6 oz)
  • Size: Medium (9 - 16 in)
  • Color Primary: Brown
  • 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
Corn Crake Flight Illustration

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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Family
Species Crex crex
Length8.6 - 9.8 Inches
Wingspan18.7 Inches

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.
Corn Crake Body Illustration
● 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