Corn crake

The corn crake is a medium-sized bird in the rail family Rallidae, breeding across Europe and Asia as far east as western China and migrating to Africa for the Northern Hemisphere winter, where it winters in African grasslands from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania south to eastern South Africa. It has buff- or grey-streaked brownish-black upperparts, chestnut markings on the wings, and blue-grey underparts, and measures 27 to 30 centimeters long with a wingspan of 42 to 53 centimeters; males average 165 grams and females 145 grams. It has a strong flesh-colored bill, a pale brown iris and pale grey legs, and is best known for the loud, onomatopoeic krek krek call of the male, which gave the bird its scientific name. It breeds in grasslands, hayfields and similar open vegetation 30 to 200 centimeters tall, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.