Watercock – Natural Bird Sound
The watercock is a waterbird in the rail and crake family, Rallidae. It is the only member of the genus Gallicrex.
Traditionally held to be closely related to moorhens, it is actually a member of a mostly tropical Asian clade containing also Aenigmatolimnas, Amaurornis, Himantornis and Megacrex.
Feature:
The body length is 42-43 cm for males and 35-36 cm for females. The iris is brown in males and light brown in females. The male beak is yellow, the upper beak is red, and the female is light brown. Feet yellow-green.
Male breeding feathers have a raised forehead with a cockscomb, red, head, pillow, and neck gray-black, upper back and shoulders gray, slightly brown, lower back, waist, upper tail coverts, tail feathers dark brown, and feather margins dark brown. The underparts are gray-black, the center of the abdomen is lighter, and the lower tail coverts are pale yellow with brown horizontal spots.
The male non-breeding plumage is similar to that of the female, the forehead is not raised, and it is yellowish brown.
The female has no raised forehead, the whole body is generally yellowish brown, the wing coverts are dark brown, the feather margins are pale yellow, and the chest, flanks and abdomen are densely covered with dark brown fine horizontal stripes.
Distributed:
India, Sri Lanka, East China, Korean Peninsula, Japan, South Asia, Indochina Peninsula, Taiwan.
Video Source: 董雞/Watercock from Chuenguey Hwang on Youtube ⁄ CC BY