Listen to the spotted rail
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the spotted rail
The spotted rail is a bird in the family Rallidae (order Gruiformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “least concern”.
What does the spotted rail sound like?
Bird vocalisations are usually divided into songs – longer, often complex phrases used to defend territory and attract mates, sung mostly by males in the breeding season – and calls: short, simple sounds for contact, alarm, begging or flight.
The recordings here are labelled as calls. Listen for differences in rhythm, pitch and repetition – the spectrum display makes it easy to see whether a sound is a pure whistle (a thin line), a harsh call (a broad band) or a trill (rapid repeated marks).
From Wikipedia
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.
Related birds in the genus Pardirallus
More from the family Rallidae
Eurasian coot
Fulica atra
Common moorhen
Gallinula chloropus
Corn crake
Crex crex
Water rail
Rallus aquaticus
Spotted crake
Porzana porzana
Baillon's crake
Zapornia pusilla
Western swamphen
Porphyrio porphyrio
White-breasted waterhen
Amaurornis phoenicurus
Takahē
Porphyrio hochstetteri
American coot
Fulica americana
Weka
Gallirallus australis
Frequently asked questions
What does a spotted rail sound like?
You can hear 1 recording of the spotted rail on this page, including its calls. Bird vocalisations are usually divided into songs – longer, often complex phrases used to defend territory and attract mates, sung mostly by males in the breeding season – and calls: short, simple sounds for contact, alarm, begging or flight.
Is the spotted rail endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the spotted rail as “least concern”.
What family does the spotted rail belong to?
The spotted rail (Pardirallus maculatus) belongs to the family Rallidae in the order Gruiformes.
Sources & credits
- Calls · Manabí: La Segua marsh (Chone lakes), Ecuador by Niels Krabbe – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q1270896 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Spotted rail – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by in Robert Ridgway – Public domain