Birds of Singapore
by the Bird Society of Singapore
Rostratula benghalensis
Family: Painted-Snipes · Status: Uncommon resident · Size: 23–26 cm · Conservation: Least Concern
Resident across Africa south of the Sahara, and in south and east Asia from India to China, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, the Greater and Lesser Sundas, and Australia.
Distinctive in all plumages, with white spectacles, narrow buffish median stripe, and bill that droops slightly at tip. Female has blackish crown, dark maroon-chestnut head, neck and upper breast, blackish breast band, white belly and white band around shoulder. Male is smaller, browner above with large buffish spots on the upperwing-coverts, a golden eye-patch, and brown breast with white streaks. Juvenile resembles male but with greyer wing-coverts. In flight, all plumages show distinctively slow wingbeats with rounded wings and legs often dangling.
Freshwater marshes, reedbeds, and well-vegetated wetlands with grassy or muddy margins.
Quite secretive and mainly crepuscular; forages by probing soft ground and scything bill through shallow water. Usually solitary.