Water rail: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the water rail lives – recorded in 45 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Rallus aquaticus
Group	Herons, storks, cranes & flamingos
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	45 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe
Mass	125 g (male organism, adult weight); 98 g (female organism, adult weight)
Class	Bird
Order	Gruiformes
Family	Rallidae

Where does the water rail live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the water rail in 45 countries and territories across Africa, Asia and Europe. Wikidata gives its range as: Africa. In Kuwait it is listed as introduced (GRIIS checklists via GBIF).

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a water rail?

Wikidata records the following for the water rail: mass 125 g (male organism, adult weight); 98 g (female organism, adult weight).

Is the water rail endangered?

The water rail’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the water rail?

The water rail (Rallus aquaticus) is a bird in the order Gruiformes and the family Rallidae, genus Rallus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the water rail

The water rail, western water rail or European water rail (Rallus aquaticus) 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.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Water rail (revision 1372863112), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q185099 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).