Description:

Medium sized, very plain olive brown and greyish crake. Olive-brown upperparts, grey face and breast, and olive-brown flanks and undertail-coverts; underparts lack barring. Has red iris, greenish bill and pinkish-brown to purple legs. Juvenile is similar to adult, but has dull iris and paler grey underparts.

Distribution:

Uncommon resident along Indus and Gilgit rivers, in Ghizer, Gilgit and Diamer districts. Prefers freshwater to saline wetlands or watercourses with dense vegetation or reed-beds, marshes and flooded meadows, up to 2500m during migration.

Behavior:

Largely crepuscular, emerging cautiously at edges of reedbeds and bushes to feed in early morning and evening. Feeds mainly on worms, molluscs, insects, especially water beetles and adult and larval flies, and also seeds of aquatic plants; worms, gastropods, spiders and water mites, and aquatic vegetation such as young shoots.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Brown Crake in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Brown Crake

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.