Plumbeous Rail

The blackish rail is 30 to 38 cm (12 to 15 in) long and weighs 170 to 230 g (6.0 to 8.1 oz). The sexes are alike. They have red eyes and legs. They have a green bill and in all but subspecies P. s. luridus the maxilla has a sky blue base and the mandible a bright red one. The nominate subspecies P. s. sanguinolentus has mottled brown upperparts and plain gray face and underparts. The other subspecies differ somewhat in size and plumage. P. s. luridus is the largest and P. s. zelebori the smallest. P. s. simonsi is more olive brown above and paler gray below than the nominate. P. s. tschudii also has paler underparts. P. s. landbecki is more olive brown upperparts than the nominate and no mottling. P. s. luridus has no mottling on its upperparts and has paler gray underparts than the nominate.

The six subspecies of plumbeous rail are distributed thus. The species is found further south than any other South American rail.

Pardirallus sanguinolentus simonsi, extreme southern Ecuador south along the Pacific slope through Peru into northern Chile Pardirallus sanguinolentus tschudii, southeastern Peru into central and southeastern Bolivia Pardirallus sanguinolentus zelebori, southeastern Brazil Pardirallus sanguinolentus sanguinolentus, extreme southeastern Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina as far south as Río Negro Province Pardirallus sanguinolentus landbecki, central Chile between the Atacama Region and Llanquihue Province and into southwestern Argentina Pardirallus sanguinolentus luridus, southern Chile and Argentina including Tierra del Fuego, and as a vagrant to the Falkland Islands The plumbeous rail inhabits a variety of landscapes characterized by water and vegetative cover. Examples include reed marshes (even small ones), ponds with floating vegetation, irrigated croplands, wet ditches through pasture, and oases in arid areas. In elevation it occurs mostly in the lowlands but ranges in some limited areas as high as 2,500 m (8,200 ft) and in a few locations up to about 4,000 m (13,000 ft)

The plumbeous rail mostly forages at twilight but is also active during both day and night. It seeks its diet of grubs, worms, and insects in marshes, ponds, and nearby cultivated fields.