Habitat
Seasonally moist or inundated grasslands, grass and rank vegetation at the edges of freshwater swamps, reedy marshes, and open waters, tall grass savannas and dry grassland in lightly wooded country.
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Vagrant to Mauritania, Niger, Sâo Tomé e Principe, Senegal, Spain.
Sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal east to Kenya and south to Cape Province, South Africa, except arid areas of south-western and southern Africa, where western limits correlate with 300-mm summer rainfall isohyet.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Status LC
Loss of wetland and grassland habitats due to overgrazing, cultivation, human settlement is the main threat.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Habits
Singly, in pairs or family parties outside of the breeding season, with small groups of up to six individuals occurring together on migration.
Food
Earthworms, molluscs, insects and their larvae, small frogs, small fish, grass seeds and vegetable matter.
African Crake (Crecopsis egregia) [XC872294]
by id from Kamfinsa Area, Copperbelt Province, Zambia (call)
African Crake (Crecopsis egregia) [XC39321]
by Joost van Bruggen from South Luangwa National Park Home, Zambia (call)
Nest
A shallow cup of grass blades, usually located on the ground in a scrape or depression, often hidden under a tussock or small bush, occasionally also 2 - 15 cm above dry ground, or floating or standing in water in dense grass or other vegetation.
Subspecies
Sometimes placed in genus Porzana on the basis of a superficial resemblance to Ash-throated Crake (Porzana albicollis), but plumage and skeletal differences make the relationship untenable. Sometimes placed in monospecific genus Crecopsis but probably more appropriately included in Crex on basis of similarities to Corncrake (Crex crex).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet