185. Little Crake (Porzana parva)

Little Crakes are slightly smaller and slimmer than Spotted Crakes, and with much plainer plumage (which certainly makes the prospect of painting one less daunting). They are found in very localised spots in western Europe and become much more widespread across central and eastern Europe. They may also be seen on migration in parts of southest Europe, and they spend the winter in parts of the Middle East and a few very localised spots in Africa. The adult male plumage is shown in this rather nice photo, and females are plain pale brown below with only a little bit of grey on their faces. Juveniles look similar to females but are whiter underneath, lack the grey on the face, and have quite extensive brown barring on the sides of their bodies. Their preferred habitat is reedbeds with some open deeper water and maybe bulrushes too.

Little Crake, ©Joost Woltering, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Little Crake painting.

Hmmm that brown on the back needs to be a bit more ochre-y. Grey is still causing me problems too apparently!