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The Porphyrio hochstetteri photo also known as South Island Takahē. This photo taken from behind, illustrates the short, fluffy but soft remiges that are typical of all flightless Rallidae species The Rallidae, commonly referred to as rails are a bird family known to be largely cosmopolitan. The rails are thus medium size belonging to the Rallidae family in the bird order of Gruiformes. The Rallidae family exhibits an extensive diversity that includes coots, crakes and gallinules. Species Description The Rallidae are fairly homogeneous ground living birds that vary in their body length from about 12 cm to about 63 cm and also in weight from about 20 g to about 3000 g. Some of the species in the family have very long necks and are in most cases laterally compressed. Their bills vary across the family whereby some species have longer bills than the heads (i.e. American clapper rail), while others have short and wide bills (i.e. coots). Some also have very massive bills for instance the purple gallinules. The coots and the gallinules feature a frontal shield, itself a fleshy rearward upper bill extension. The horned coot features the most complex of this frontal shield. Most species in the family can walk and run very vigorously on their strong legs since their long toes are aptly adapted to uneven but soft surfaces. They carry short, rounded wings, which makes them pretty weak fliers though they are still capable of covering long migrant distances. All Rallidae species make loud calls that vary in pitch and tone whereby some whistle, others squeak while others produce totally unbirdlike sounds. Most of these loud calls are used in dense vegetation cover or during the night when it’s difficult to locate a peer. Nevertheless, some of the calls are purely territorial. Feeding Habits As a primary rule, most member species of the Rallidae family are omnivorous generalists. As such, many of the species eat invertebrates, fruit and seedlings as comfortably. Nevertheless, some minute species are exclusively vegetarians. Habitats Many of the species in the family are mostly associated with wetlands, marshlands and dense forests. The birds are very fond of damp environments and would be seen in dense vegetation such as near lakes, rivers or swamps. However, it is not unusual to find the family in almost every terrestrial habitat available except Polar Regions, dry deserts and alpine areas above mountain snow lines. As such, the member species of the Rallidae are readily found on all the continents except Antarctica. Breeding The Rallidae species breeding tendencies are not well documented by research at present but studies are ongoing. Nevertheless, the birds are believed to be very monogamous, but with allowances of polygyny and polyandry mating relationships. In every mating cycle, Rallidae species lay between 5-10 eggs and in some rare cases a whooping fifteen eggs at a go. This egg clutches do not always hatch simultaneously or at the same time. It sometimes takes up to fifteen days for all the eggs to hatch. Once hatched, the Rallidae chicks take only a few days to become mobile. They however remain dependent on the parents up until they fledge after about a month’s duration since hatching. Conclusion Over six hundred species of island rails are now extinct consequent to predators and environmental pollution. Among the remaining island species of the Rallidae, most are endangered. Conservationists and governments are now working thriftily to save these remnants from extinction.
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