Aust birds    Bird names   News   1-26    Habitats    Key plants    Glossary    Plumage    Nests    Tips    Thumbnails    Gen. info    Sponsors    Photos for sale   
NON-PASSERINES     1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10     11     12     13     14 15     16     17     18     19     20     21     22     23     24     25     26     PASSERINES
Common names sorted alphabetically: A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   W   Y  

7

Australian Spotted Crake

(Porzana fluminea)
Alternate name(s): "Water-crake", "Australian Crake", "Spotted Crake"
Size: 19-22 cm
Weight: 55-70 g

Similar
species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description

Click here for a physical description

Taxonomy, classification

See Australian Spotted Crake at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species

Click here for information on habitat and range

Sightings

Click here for sighting information

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

Close-up frontal view of an adult Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of F. Japp)
[Lake Hawthorn, Mildura, VIC, in June 2014]

Close-up frontal view of an Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kingsford Smith Memorial Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, April 2023]

Frontal view of an Australian Spotted Crake
[40 km S of Mungindi, NSW, January 2023]

Close-up near-frontal view of an Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kingsford Smith Memorial Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, April 2023]

Near-frontal view of an Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Montecollina bore, off the Strzelecki Track, SA, November 2018]

Close-up near-lateral view of an Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kingsford Smith Memorial Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, April 2023]

Close-up lateral view of an Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kingsford Smith Memorial Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, April 2023]

Close-up lateral view of an Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kingsford Smith Memorial Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, April 2023]

Close-up lateral view of an Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kingsford Smith Memorial Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, April 2023]

Close-up lateral view of an Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of F. Japp)
[Lake Hawthorn, Mildura, VIC, in June 2014]

Lateral view of an Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Montecollina bore, off the Strzelecki Track, SA, November 2018]

Lateral view of an Australian Spotted Crake moving along the edge of a swamp
[Yarrie Lake, near Wee Waa, NSW, January 2013]

Lateral view of an Australian Spotted Crake; for comparison, the white object in the mud is a golf ball
(photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Eastlakes Golf Course, NSW, December 2012]

Lateral view of an Australian Spotted Crake swimming across a wetland (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Fivebough swamp, Leeton, NSW, November 2012]

Near-dorsal view of an Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Montecollina bore, off the Strzelecki Track, SA, November 2018]

Dorsal view of an Australian Spotted Crake
[40 km S of Mungindi, NSW, January 2023]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Near-lateral view of an immature Australian Spotted Crake; note the absence of red at the base of the bill
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Helidon STP, Lockyer Valley, QLD, February 2019]

Near-lateral view of an adult, left, with an immature Australian Spotted Crake (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Helidon STP, Lockyer Valley, QLD, February 2019]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Aug - Feb Eggs: 3 - 6 Incubation period: ? Fledging age: ?

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Basket Material: Reeds, aquatic plants, grass lining Height above ground: N/A

Australian Spotted Crake on its nest (photo courtesy of M. Windeyer)
[20 km West of Gilgandra, NSW, October 2020]

Australian Spotted Crake walking off its nest (photo courtesy of M. Windeyer)
[20 km West of Gilgandra, NSW, October 2020]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 31 x 23 mm Colour: Light-brown, with sparse mid- to dark-brown speckles Shape: Tapered oval

Behaviour

Australian Spotted Crakes are very small, shy birds and extremely well-camouflaged. The photo below gives an example of how hard they can be to spot.

Distant lateral view of an Australian Spotted Crake; click on photo to see the full-size image taken with 300 mm focal length
[Near Narrabri, NSW, December 2012]

Food, Diet

Lateral view of an Australian Spotted Crake with small prey it has just pulled from the mud
[40 km S of Mungindi, NSW, January 2023]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site?
If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.