Adults: Breeding: Above, dark olive-brown. Back, rump, upper tail-coverts, wing coverts, chestnut brown. Primary coverts, remiges and tail, dark brown. Sides of head, slate-grey, darker blackish on face, slighly pale on cheeks, grading to pale greyish-white on chin and throat. Foreneck, breast and upper belly, slate-grey. Flanks, olive-brown. Lower belly, thighs, vent and under tail-coverts, dull rufous. Underwing, dark brownish-grey. Bill, green, with a swollen frontal shield, orange. Iris, reddish-brown. Legs and feet, olive-yellow. Non-breeding: As breeding plumage except, frontal shield, is shrivelled duller grey-brown. Bill, duller, yellowish-olive, yellower on base of lower mandible.
Juveniles: Like adults. Chin, upper throat, white, faintly mottled with olive-brown. Bill, blackish-brown. Iris, dark brown. Legs, olive-grey.
Other Scientific Names
Amaurornis olivaceus [BirdLife International (2004)], Amaurornis olivaceus [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)]
Derivation
Amaurornis - Gk, amauros, dark or dusky; Gk, ornis, bird: ol-iv-a-ce-us - L., olive colored
Habitat
Densely vegetated margins of permanent freshwater wetlands, rainforests, in grasslands or farmlands abutting forested areas, dense crops, such as sugar-cane, areas bordering mangroves on islands in the Torres Strait.
Food
Seeds, plant material, insects and occasionally frogs.
Voice
Shrieks, piping and clicks, heard both during the day and at night, especially early morning and late afternoon. Also calls in flight at night during the wet season.
Plain Bush-hen (Amaurornis olivacea) [XC590099]
by Frank Lambert from New Bataan, Compostela Valley, Davao Region, Philippines (song)
Plain Bush-hen (Amaurornis olivacea) [XC624207]
by Paul Lenrum\u00e9 from Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, MIMAROPA, Philippines (song)
Nest
Bowl-shaped platform or cup, often with a dome, composed of staks of grass, lined with dry grass and twigs, in grass or in a shrub, usually near water.
Eggs (Guide)
5 - 7; creamy white with irregular marks of red-brown and lavender; round; about 20 x 29 mm. Incubation: about 25 days; by both sexes.
Young
Semi-precocial, nidifugous.
Subspecies
Philippine Bush-hen (Amaurornis olivacea) and Pale-vented Bush-hen (Amaurornis moluccana) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993), cross-regional species, are retained as separate species contra Christidis and Boles (1994) who include moluccana as a subspecies of olivacea.
Formerly considered conspecific with Pale-vented Bush-hen (Amaurornis moluccana), but sufficiently distinctive in plumage to merit separation. Probably best considered as forming superspecies.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet