The Baillon's Crake is a very small waterbird of the family Rallidae.

Distribution

Their breeding habitat is sedge

Cyperaceae

Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...

 beds in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, mainly in the east, and across Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. They used to breed in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 up to the mid-19th century, but the western European population declined through drainage. They nest in a dry location in wet sedge bogs, laying 4-8 eggs

Bird egg

Bird eggs are laid by females and incubated for a time that varies according to the species; a single young hatches from each egg. Average clutch sizes range from one to about 17...

. This species is migratory

Bird migration

Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...

, wintering in east Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and south Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

.

It is also a resident breeder in Africa and Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...

. There is a single North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n record of this species on Attu Island

Attu Island

Attu is the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, making it the westernmost point of land relative to Alaska and the United States. It was the site of the only World War II land battle fought on the incorporated territory of the United States ,...

 in September 2000.

Description

They are 16–18 cm in length, and are similar to the only slightly larger Little Crake

Little Crake

The Little Crake is a very small waterbird of the family Rallidae.Their breeding habitat is reed beds in Europe, mainly in the east, and just into western Asia. They nest in a dry location in reed vegetation, laying 4-7 eggs...

. Baillon's Crake has a short straight bill, yellow or green without a red base. Adults have mainly brown upperparts with some white markings, and a blue-grey face and underparts. The rear flanks are barred black and white. They have green legs with long toes, and a short tail which is barred underneath.

Immature Baillon's Crakes are similar to the adults, but have extensively barred underparts. The downy chicks are black, as with all rails.

Behaviour

These birds probe with their bill in mud or shallow water, also picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s and aquatic animals.

Baillon's Crakes are very secretive in the breeding season, and are then mostly heard rather than seen. They are then noisy bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s, with a rattling call like that of the Edible Frog

Edible Frog

The Edible Frog is a name for a common European frog, also known as the common water frog or green frog . It is used for food, particularly in France for the delicacy frog legs...

, or perhaps Garganey

Garganey

The Garganey is a small dabbling duck. It breeds in much of Europe and western Asia, but is strictly migratory, with the entire population moving to southern Africa, India Santragachi and Australasia in winter, where large flocks can occur. This species was first described by Linnaeus in 1758...

. They can be easier to see on migration or when wintering.

Taxonomy and Nomenclature

This bird is named after French naturalist Louis Antoine Francois Baillon

Louis Antoine François Baillon

Louis Antoine François Baillon was a French naturalist and collector. He was born in Montreuil-sur-Mer and died in Abbeville....

. The names Marsh Crake and Tiny Crake have previously been used to refer to this species.

International

The Baillon's Crake is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA

AEWA

The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds is the largest of its kind developed so far under the Bonn Convention. It was concluded on 16 June 1995 at The Hague, the Netherlands and entered into force on 1 November 1999 after the required number of at least fourteen...

) applies.

Australia

Baillon's Crakes are not listed as threatened on the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and culturally significant places...

. However, their conservation status varies from state to state within Australia. For example:

• The Baillon's Crake is listed as threatened on the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988). Under this Act, an Action Statement for the recovery and future management of this species has not yet been prepared.

• On the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria, the Baillon's Crake is listed as vulnerable
  Vulnerable species
  On 30 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 9694 Vulnerable species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations.-References:...
  
  .