Water Rail

Rallus aquaticus

The water rail, western water rail or European water rail is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this species is a permanent resident in the warmer parts of its breeding range. The adult is 23–28 cm (9–11 in) long, and, like other rails, has a body that is flattened laterally, allowing it easier passage through the reed beds it inhabits. It has mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey underparts, black barring on the flanks, long toes, a short tail and a long reddish bill. Immature birds are generally similar in appearance to the adults, but the blue-grey in the plumage is replaced by buff. The downy chicks are black, as with all rails. The former subspecies R. indicus has distinctive markings and a call that is very different from the pig-like squeal of the western rails, and is now usually split as a separate species, the brown-cheeked rail. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 110,003 times across 55 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Water Rail on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 18°C (typically 12 to 20°C, from 14 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 46°N in March to 60°N in July, about 1,600 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.