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Well I
noticed that they sort of avoided each other, that is to say were not in view at
the same time. That is a bit different to some other times I have seen them
foraging together. The Spotted Crake was out in view for nearly an hour of the
nearly two hours I was there and the Spotless Crake was in exactly the same
place but I only saw it for about 2 minutes and when none of the others
were in view. The Baillon's Crake was mostly about 4 to 5 metres away from
there. One Buff-banded Rail adult and two young birds were seen mostly
separately and in other parts of the pond but one time together where the
Spotted Crake & Spotless Crake were but not when the Baillon's Crake &
Spotless Crake were in view. For about 2 or 3 minutes the Spotted Crake was
foraging about 1 to 2 metres away from the B-b R. At one time one of the young
Buff-banded Rails ran at the Spotted Crake to within about 50 cm but the
Spotted Crake ran away into the reeds and came out again a few minutes
later.
As I
wrote yesterday, one of the Dusky Moorhens was behaving like a mad thing, being
in a very bad mood.
Not
quite relevant but I recall a report of a heron eating a crake.
Philip
At Namadgi Visitor centre today, the 3 species of
crake and the Buff-banded Rail adults and three young birds were seen just
before lunch today. I would not have expected that larger birds would bother
with the crakes unless they are potential food (I have seen swamphens chase
crakes) but the rails (adults and young birds) chased an
Australian Spotted Crake every time they got near it (I lost count of how
many times) and a Dusky Moorhen chased a Baillon's Crake three times even
seeking it out when it was some distance away. Maybe crakes are just the right
size to pick on when your in a bad mood!
Steve
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