Slaty-legged Crake

Slaty-legged Crake (Rallina eurizonoides) is a forest crake with chestnut head and breast, olive-brown back, barred belly and slate-coloured legs. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It forages through damp forest floor and streamside vegetation for insects, worms and other small prey, mainly at dusk. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).