Isabelline Bush-hen

The isabelline bush-hen is a large rail endemic to Sulawesi, measuring roughly 35–40 cm. Both sexes have similar olive-brown upperparts, rufous underparts, a pale green bill and greenish-brown legs. At up to about 40 cm it is the largest member of Amaurornis. The names Sulawesi waterhen and isabelline waterhen refer to the same species, while “isabelline” describes its warm buff-brown colour. Its loud call is a repeated tak-tak-tak series (Wikipedia account).

It is a sedentary, ground-dwelling omnivore associated with freshwater and dense cover. Recorded habitats include rank grass, overgrown cultivation, low scrub mixed with grass, the margins of rice and maize fields, and tall grass at forest edges, from the lowlands to about 1,400 m. Ecological datasets give an average body mass near 171 g. The sources opened did not establish the particular foods eaten or provide nest, clutch and incubation details, so those remain unspecified (Oiseaux.net synthesis citing Bird et al. 2020 and Tobias et al. 2021).