{{Short description|Species of bird}} {{Use American English|date=November 2022}} {{Speciesbox | name = Rufous-sided crake | image = Laterallus melanophaius - Rufous-sided Crake.JPG | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=Rufous-sided Crake ''Laterallus melanophaius'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T22692337A93348780 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22692337A93348780.en |access-date=28 November 2022}}</ref> | genus = Laterallus | species = melanophaius | authority = (Vieillot, 1819) | synonyms = | range_map = Laterallus melanophaius map.svg }}
The '''rufous-sided crake''' ('''''Laterallus melanophaius''''') is a species of bird in subfamily Rallinae of family Rallidae, the rails, gallinules, and coots.<ref name=IOC12.2>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date= August 2022 | title=Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/flufftails/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=25 November 2022 }}</ref><ref name=HBW2021>HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip retrieved August 7, 2022</ref> It is found in every mainland South American country except Chile.<ref name=SACCcountries>Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved July 24, 2022</ref>
==Taxonomy and systematics==
The rufous-sided crake has two subspecies, the nominate ''L. m. melanophaius'' and ''L. m. oenops''.<ref name=IOC12.2/> What is now the white-throated crake (''L. albigularis'') was for a time treated as a third subspecies.<ref name=SACClist>Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022</ref>
==Description==
The rufous-sided crake is {{convert|14|to|18|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and weighs about {{convert|50|to|60|g|oz|abbr=on}}. The sexes are alike. Both subspecies' bills have a gray maxilla with a pea green cutting edge and a pale pea green mandible with a white tip. Their legs and feet are light gray brown to olive brown. The nominate subspecies has dark olive brown upperparts with a gray tinge around the eye. The face and sides of the breast are rufous to cinnamon rufous. The throat and center of the breast are white, the flanks and belly barred white and blackish brown, and the undertail coverts are dark cinnamon rufous. Subspecies ''L. m. oenops'' is similar to the nominate, but has paler upperparts and is rufous on the forecrown and around the eye.<ref name=RSCR-BOW>Schulenberg, T. S. (2020). Rufous-sided Crake (''Laterallus melanophaius''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.ruscra1.01 retrieved November 28, 2022</ref>
==Distribution and habitat==
The nominate subspecies of rufous-sided crake has much the larger range of the two. It is found from coastal Venezuela east through the Guianas and separately from central and eastern Brazil south through eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay into northern Argentina. Subspecies ''L. m. oenops'' is found from southern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador into eastern Peru and east into western Brazil. The species primarily inhabits freshwater marshes and similar landscapes such as flooded pastures and the edges of ponds and oxbow lakes .<ref name=IOC12.2/><ref name=RSCR-BOW/>
==Behavior== ===Movement===
The rufous-sided crake is not known to migrate.<ref name=RSCR-BOW/>
===Feeding===
The rufous-sided crake usually forages in dense grassy vegetation but also in the open close to cover. It forages in mud and vegetation for its primary diet of small arthropods; seeds and leaves are also eaten.<ref name=RSCR-BOW/>
===Breeding===
Only fragments are known about the rufous-sided crake's breeding biology. Its nesting season(s) are not known for most of its range but include September and October in Argentina. Its nest is a globe of leaves lined with leaf shreds, dry grass, and feathers. It is placed on or just above the ground and has a side entrance. The incubation period is about 20 days.<ref name=RSCR-BOW/>
{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/explore?query=rufous-sided%20crake |species=rufous-sided crake}}
===Vocalization===
The rufous-sided crake's song is "a rubbery musical trill" much like those of other ''Laterallus'' crakes. Its calls include ""high-pitched tinkling calls[,] [a] short ''treeeeeng''[, and] a harsh, descending ''djreer''."<ref name=RSCR-BOW/>
==Status==
The IUCN has assessed the rufous-sided crake as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range but its population size and trend are not known. No immediate threats have been identified.<ref name=IUCN/> It is thought uncommon to locally common in Ecuador and fairly common in Peru. "Human activity has little short-term direct effect on Rufous-sided Crake, other than the local effects of habitat destruction."<ref name=RSCR-BOW/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1267636}}
rufous-sided crake Category:Birds of Venezuela Category:Birds of the Guiana Shield Category:Birds of the Amazon rainforest Category:Birds of Argentina Category:Birds of Brazil Category:Birds of Bolivia Category:Birds of Paraguay Category:Birds of Uruguay rufous-sided crake Category:Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot