Description:

Rather plump crake with profuse white spotting on head, neck and breast. Stout bill, barred flanks, and unmarked buff undertail-coverts. Adult has yellowish bill with red at base, and grey head and breast. Juvenile has buffish-brown head and breast, and bill is brown.

Distribution:

Uncommon passage migrant through eastern Gilgit-Baltistan, rarely in Ghizer and Diamer. Prefers freshwater to saline wetlands or watercourses with dense vegetation or reed-beds, marshes and flooded meadows, up to 3000m during migration.

Behavior:

Forages in water and on wet to dry mud, usually keeping close to cover; picks food from surface of substrate and immerses head in water; stretches up to strip seeds from grass; also walks on floating vegetation. Omnivorous; mainly small aquatic invertebrates and parts of aquatic plants. Takes earthworms, molluscs, Arachnida, insects and their larvae, and small fish stranded in drying pools.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

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

Seasonal Occurrence of Spotted 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.