Order: Gruiformes | Family: Rallidae | IUCN Status: Least Concern
Age: Adult | Sex: Unknown | Loc. North America
Age: Adult | Sex: Unknown | Loc. North America
Age: Adult | Sex: Unknown | Loc. North America
Age: Adult | Sex: Unknown | Loc. North America
Identification & Behavior: ~20.5 cm (8 in). The Virginia Rail has mottled upperparts, distinctive gray sides of the head, and rufous wing coverts. Most of the underparts are rufous-brown with the rear half blackish with white bars. The bill is orange and black. The similar, but larger Clapper Rail lacks the gray sides of the head and is confined to the mangrove forest of extreme northwest Peru. Also, see Bogota Rail.
Status: The Virginia Rail is known to occur in coastal wetlands where it is rare. It has not been reported from Andean wetlands. It also occurs in Co and Ec.
Name in Spanish: Rascón Menor.
Sub-species: Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola meyerdeschauenseei) Fjeldså, 1990.
Meaning of Name: Rallus: Gr. A rail. limicola: L. limus, limi=mud and cola=dweller. A mud dweller.
See more of the Family Rallidae 
Distribution Map
Voice
VoiceReferences:
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- Species range based on: Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, and L. Rico. 2006. Distribution maps of the birds of Peru, version 1.0. Environment, Culture & Conservation (ECCo). The Field Museum. http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/uw_test/birdsofperu on 01/01/2015.