White-breasted Waterhen

The white-breasted waterhen is a rail about 32cm long, dark slaty grey above and on the flanks with a clean white face, neck and breast, a cinnamon or white lower belly and undertail, a short tail and a yellow bill and legs. Its body is flattened from side to side for slipping through reeds. The sexes are similar, though females are slightly smaller; immatures are duller and the downy chicks black. Several subspecies are named, many of them on islands (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is bolder than most rails and is often seen singly or in pairs stepping slowly along the edge of water with its tail cocked and jerking, even beside drains near busy roads. It probes mud and shallow water with its bill and picks food by sight, mainly insects, and sometimes clambers into low vegetation. It is most active at dawn and dusk, and after the first rains it gives loud, repetitive croaking calls (Wikipedia, general species account).