Pardirallus maculatus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The spotted rail (Pardirallus maculatus) is a species of bird in the subfamily Rallinae of the rail, crake, and coot family Rallidae. It is found in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. The spotted rail was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in French Guiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Rallus maculatus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The spotted rail is now placed in the genus Pardirallus that was erected by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1856. The generic name combines the Ancient Greek pardos meaning "leopard" with the genus Rallus. The specific epithet maculatus is Latin for "spotted" or "blotched"
Two subspecies are recognized: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ciénaga de Zapata | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 2 | Palo Verde National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Lago de Yojoa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 4 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 5 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 6 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Asuncion | 🇵🇾 Paraguay | |
| 2 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Rail sighting in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, based on 37 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 138th most-seen of the 177 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Rail in Ciénaga de Zapata on a given day, against under 5% in October to July, the lowest months. That is one of Ciénaga de Zapata's wettest months, with about 130 mm of rain against 15 mm in February. September has too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Spotted Rail sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Spotted Rail sightings, Ciénaga de Zapata has the highest daily chance: under 5%. Next come Palo Verde National Park (Costa Rica, under 5%) and Lago de Yojoa (Honduras, under 5%).
Same family: Rallidae
The closest relatives of the Spotted Rail that you can see in Ciénaga de Zapata (family Rallidae, Rails, Gallinules, and Coots) are Common Moorhen (about 40%), Clapper Rail (about 30%) and Sora (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Spotted Rail is recorded against all the birds logged in Ciénaga de Zapata (37 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
