Amaurornis flavirostra
Silhouette: T. Michael Keesey (vectorization) and HuttyMcphoo (photography) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The black crake (Zapornia flavirostra) is a waterbird in the rail and crake family, Rallidae. It breeds in most of sub-Saharan Africa except in very arid areas. It undertakes some seasonal movements in those parts of its range which are subject to drought. No subspecies have been described. It appears that the oldest available name for this species is actually Rallus niger J. F. Gmelin, 1788, but Swainson believed that the earlier name was unidentifiable, and his own has since become well embedded in the literature.
The adult black crake is 19–23 cm (7.5–9.1 in) long with a short tail and long toes. As its name implies, the adult has mainly black plumage, with a brown olive tone on the wings and upperparts which is rarely detectable in the field. The eye is red, the bill is yellow (hence the flavirostra of the binomial name), and the legs and feet are red, duller when not breeding.
The sexes are similar, but the male is slightly larger. Most males, but only 10% of females, have a hooked upper mandible. The immature bird has brown upperparts and a dark grey head and underparts. Its bill is greenish yellow, and its feet and legs are dull red. The downy chicks are black... Wikipedia →
Recording0:15
South Africa · 2025
© Malcolm Douglas · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:21
South Africa · 2023
© corky777 · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:15
Gabon · 2021
© bureaubenjamin · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 3 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | N'Djamena | 🇹🇩 Chad | |
| 6 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 7 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 8 | Brazzaville | 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo | |
| 9 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 10 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disney's Animal Kingdom | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Leipzig Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Ostrava Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 5 | Sedgwick County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Toledo Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Dierenpark Hoenderdaell | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 8 | Franklin Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Zoologischer Garten Leipzig | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Parc Zoologique et Botanique de Mulhouse | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Avifauna | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 12 | Landgoed Hoenderdaell | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 13 | Wolfgang-Köhler-Primaten-Forschungszentrum | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black Crake sighting in Pretoria on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 138th most-seen of the 177 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black Crake in Pretoria on a given day, against under 5% in September to July, the lowest months. That is one of Pretoria's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 130 mm in December.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black 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.
18th of 21
Of the 21 cities where we can rate Black Crake sightings, Pretoria ranks 18th at under 5%. The best odds are in Mombasa (Kenya, about 50%), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso, about 30%) and Kigali (Rwanda, about 30%).
Same family: Rallidae
The closest relatives of the Black Crake that you can see in Pretoria (family Rallidae, Rails, Gallinules, and Coots) are Common Moorhen (about 30%) and Red-knobbed Coot (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Crake is recorded against all the birds logged in Pretoria (14 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.
