Porzana pusilla
Silhouette: T. Michael Keesey (vectorization) and HuttyMcphoo (photography) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Baillon's crake (Zapornia pusilla), also known as the marsh crake, is a small waterbird of the family Rallidae. Their breeding habitat is sedge beds and swamps, ranging from Eastern Europe to Honshu in Japan. The total breeding population in Europe as of 2016 was suspected to be 4,000 to 9,000 individuals. They used to breed in Great Britain up to the mid-19th century, but the Hungarian population declined in the 20th century due to wetland drainage. There has been a recovery in north-western Europe in recent years, with the recolonisation of Germany and the Netherlands, and breeding suspected in Britain; an Irish record in 2012 was the first there since the 1850s. They nest in dry locations in wet sedge bogs, laying 4–8 eggs. This species is migratory, wintering in East Africa and South Asia, as well as being a resident breeder in Africa and Australasia.
There is a single North American record of this species on Attu Island in September 2000. There are at least five subspecies of Baillon's crake: Zapornia pusilla affinis in New Zealand Zapornia pusilla palustris in Australia and New Guinea
Zapornia pusilla mira in Borneo Zapornia pusilla intermedia... Wikipedia →
Recording2:39
Russia · 2021
© Pavel Shukov · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:35
Italy · 2024
© mauro_fioretto · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:19
Russia · 2022
© Yaroslav Magazov · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Fiordland National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 3 | Grampians National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Brisbane | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Kochi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Wuhan | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 8 | Melbourne | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | Kozhikode | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Mumbai | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Baillon's Crake sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 114th most-seen of the 196 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.
January
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Baillon's Crake in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in February to December, the lowest months. That is one of Cape Town's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 140 mm in June.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Baillon's Crake sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 20
Of the 20 cities where we can rate Baillon's Crake sightings, Cape Town ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Vasai-Virar (India, about 10%) and Mombasa (Kenya, under 5%).
Same family: Rallidae
The closest relatives of the Baillon's Crake that you can see in Cape Town (family Rallidae, Rails, Gallinules, and Coots) are Red-knobbed Coot (about 40%), Common Moorhen (about 40%) and Western Swamphen (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Baillon's Crake is recorded against all the birds logged in Cape Town (11 verified sightings), 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.
