Russet-naped Wood-Rail

The russet-naped wood rail is 33 to 40 cm (13 to 16 in) long and weighs about 450 to 600 g (16 to 21 oz). The sexes are alike and the subspecies are practically indistinguishable from each other. Adults have a thick dark yellow bill with a light green tip, a deep red eye, and red to pink legs and feet. Their forehead, crown, and hindneck are slate gray, and the back of the head has a chestnut patch. Their back is grayish olive and the tail black. Their chin and upper throat are white and the sides of the neck, lower throat, and upper breast are gray. The rest of their breast, the upper belly, and flanks are pale tawny cinnamon blending to a pale band separating them from the black lower belly, vent, and underatail coverts. Juveniles have no white on their belly and instead of the adult's black underparts theirs are dark gray with tawny flecks.

According to the IOC, the subspecies of russet-naped wood rail are found thus:

A. a. mexicanus, eastern Mexico from southern Tamaulipas south onto the Yucatán Peninsula A. a. vanrossemi, the Pacific slope from Oaxaca in southern Mexico to southern Guatemala and El Salvador A. a. albiventris, from the Yucatán Peninsula through Belize into northern Guatemala A. a. pacificus, the Caribbean slope of Honduras and Nicaragua A. a. plumbeicollis, northeastern Costa Rica The russet-naped wood rail inhabits a wide variety of landscapes, both wet and dry. Marshes both fresh and salt, swamp forest, river and stream corridors, thorn forest, semi-evergreen forest, and mangrove forest are all represented as long as they provide dense cover.

The russet-naped wood rail is usually secretive and mostly forages in dense vegetation. It does feed in the open at times, especially along stream banks, and has also been observed feeding in grassy areas near the forest. Its diet is not known in detail but it has been documented feeding on vegetable matter, snails, crabs, and a snake.