Gray-cowled Wood-Rail

The Story

I made this photo of a Gray-cowled Wood-Rail (Aramides cajaneus) at Reserva Natural Hato Berlín in Trinidad, Casanare, Colombia. Pairs are monogamous and stay together all year. It nests on flat branches and in thickets, usually 1 to 3 meters off the ground. A clutch is three to seven eggs, and both parents incubate. Hato Berlín is a civil-society nature reserve on the Casanare savanna, about 10 km from Trinidad, where capybaras, caimans, turtles, monkeys and savanna and marsh birds can be seen. IUCN lists the Gray-cowled Wood-Rail as Least Concern, with a stable population.

I used a Pentax K-1 with a 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 lens for this one, at 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250. The Safari Llanero at Hato Berlín lets visitors watch and photograph wildlife in its habitat and share the culture and food of the people who live there.

The bird

The Gray-cowled Wood-Rail (Aramides cajaneus) belongs to the family Rallidae (Rails, Gallinules, and Coots) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.

Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)

Conservation

Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List