Rails and crakes are in the family Rallidae. There are 26 sub-species of Buff-banded Rail. Its distribution ranges from the Philippines, Palau Is, New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia (andrewsi on Cocos (Keeling) Is and melliori on the mainland). I have seen 3 subspecies, having seen them in the Lesser Sundas, Papua New Guinea and Australia. While they are more often in coastal wetlands their distribution extends further inland along the east coast. Buff-banded Rails have colonised off-shore islands, occurring on Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands but are vagrant to Tasmania. They have become abundant on coral islands in the Great Barrier Reef such as on Lady Elliot Is.
Buff-banded Rails are moderately common but are hard to see in their habitat of dense vegetation near wetlands. Other rails in Australia are Chestnut and Lewin’s. In south-east Queensland, both Lewin’s and Buff-banded may be observed. Buff-banded rails are distinguished from other rails by their head pattern and buff breastband and a striking spotted and barred body. They are a reasonable size, male (mean 185g) and female (mean 172g). Lewin’s rails are smaller and weigh between 75 and 100 g. Pale-vented Bush-hens are of a similar overall size but slightly shorter than buff-banded rails.
My sightings are often incidental when running or bike riding along the creeks in suburban parks when a mysterious bird moves across the path. It is rewarding when they show themselves. Reporting rates of Buff-banded Rails drops in winter. They are often recorded in sizeable wetlands such as Eagleby Wetlands and Lake Samsonvale but have also colonised drains running into mangrove fringe areas. They are not particularly vocal so hard to find by voice. Calls are most frequent at dawn and dusk. Listen for a high-pitched seep-seep-seep and softer growls and grunts.
Their broad diet comprises crustaceans, molluscs, worms, insects and vegetable matter and includes fruits and carrion and refuse. On coral islands they benefit from having no feral predators and may eat unattended seabird eggs. Populations may expand leading to crowding which can facilitate the spread of disease. Mass mortality has been observed on Masthead and Land Musgrave Islands (Sunbird 1986). Interestingly I observed four rails out in the open at a Brisbane cafe where they skirmished over dropped food.
Nests are cup-shaped, made of dry lengths of grass, reeds and stems near water. Young are fed for 24 hours at the nest and parents accompany the young when they leave the nest. Adult plumage is at 2 months and they probably breed at one year. We record them regularly at the Manly shorebird roost and even happened upon a nest. The nest was on the side of the bund wall, quite hidden in stalky long dry grass and protected by the thickly growing weed, leucaena. Once we left it would not be subject to human disturbance.
Predation from cats and clearing of wetlands including mowing and poisoning of vegetation around waterbodies are likely threats to rails. Climate change may cause more intense and higher floods of creeks and wetlands causing birds to move away from safe habitats. Their conservation status is currently listed as least concern by the IUCN Red List.
References
- Birds of the World Home, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
- Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds
- The Australian Bird Guide, CSIRO. 2017.
- Sunbird (1986) 16 (4) “Mass Mortality of the Buff-banded Rail” Terry Walker
