Gray-cowled Wood-Rail

The grey-cowled wood rail usually measures 33–40 centimetres (13–16 in) long and weighs 320–465 grams (11.3–16.4 oz), particularly large for a wood rail. The upperparts are olive-green to dark brown. The head and neck are medium-grey, blending into a brown patch at the back of the head. The eyes are red. The chest and flanks are rufous. The belly, rump, and tail are black. The legs are coral-red, while the bill is a bright greenish-yellow. The males and females are similar. Juvenile birds are similar to the adult but are duller in colour, with their belly sooty-black and flecked with buff. The juveniles also differ in that their bill and legs are dusky, and have brownish eyes. The chicks are black and downy, with a brownish head. Their dark eyes are lined with dull, reddish bare skin. The black bill has a flesh-coloured base, and a small, white egg tooth behind the tip of the upper mandible, as well as a very small one at the tip of the lower mandible. The subspecies A. c. avicenniae differs from the nominate by its smaller size. It also varies as its nape to back is a dull grey colour. The brown spot present at the back of the head of the nominate is also reduced or gone. The lower back is toned a slight olive, and the underparts are also slightly paler than the nominate, but without white feathers. The upper wing coverts of A. c. avicenniae are also more greenish-grey. …

The grey-cowled wood rail is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The nominate subspecies is cut off by the Andes Mountains and lives east of the range in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; it is not found in the southeastern interior of Brazil. The subspecies A. c. avicenniae is found in coastal southeastern Brazil, around São Paulo. The grey-cowled wood rail's natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical swamps. The subspecies A. c. avicenniae is however almost completely restricted to mangrove forests. The grey-cowled wood rail can be found from sea level to elevations around 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), although some wanderers have been recorded at elevations up to 2,300 metres (7,500 ft) in Colombia.

This bird can be seen to perch in both shrubbery and even trees, something characteristic of the forest rails. The grey-cowled wood rail rarely flies, although when it is flushed out, it will generally move to a branch close to the ground. If it is being observed, it is generally cautious.

Breeding. The grey-cowled wood rail's nests are situated in trees and bushes, usually 1 to 3 metres (3.3 to 9.8 ft) off the ground, built on flat branches or in thickets and lined with twigs and leaves. They generally have a diameter between 30 and 40 centimetres (12 and 16 in) on the outside, with an internal diameter of around 15 centimetres (5.9 in). The depth is usually between under 4 and 9 centimetres (1.6 and 3.5 in). The overall height of the nest is around 16 centimetres (6.3 in). This bird is monogamous, forming long-lasting pair bonds, with pairs of grey-necked wood rails staying together throughout the year. Its breeding season usually occurs between March and August, although this varies depending on geography. In Costa Rica, the breeding season extends until September. In Mexico, on the other hand, the breeding season is known to start as early as January. …

Placed in the family Rallidae (rails, moorhens, coots and allies), this species was originally described as Fulica cajanea by Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller, in his 1776 Vollständiges Natursystem. Müller based his description on the illustration Poule d'Eau de Cayenne (water hen of Cayenne) by the French naturalist and artist Edme-Louis Daubenton in his Planches Enlumineés d'Histoire Naturelle. It was eventually moved to the new genus Aramides, the wood rails, by Jacques Pucheran in 1845, and the specific epithet was changed to cajaneus. The grey-cowled wood rail is regarded as being sister species with the russet-naped wood rail, one of the nine members of the genus Aramides, within which the grey-cowled wood rail is also included. The two were classified as subspecies of a single species by James L. Peters in the 1934 edition of his Check-list of Birds of the World, before being separated as species once more in 2015. The two rails have different calls and plumage with no gradation reported. The number of subspecies is contentious, some authorities accept up to nine, while others accept only two. It is even suggested that the subspecies A. c. avicenniae be split off as a full species, based on differences in morphology and calls, speculated to have arisen because the slaty-breasted wood rail acted as an ecological barrier between the two subspecies. …