Baillon's crake
Zapornia pusilla (Pallas, 1776)
Baillon's crake (Zapornia pusilla), also called marsh crake, is a bird in the family Rallidae and the order Gruiformes. It is a small, migratory, terrestrial bird of wetland habitat, with an adult body mass of 35.4 g.
Quick facts about the baillon's crake
Baillon's crake is an aquatic predator and a carnivore, and checklists record it in Australia. It lays 6.6 eggs per clutch, up to 7, with 2 clutches per year and an incubation period of 16 days; it is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.
- Weight
- 34 g – 35.4 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 16 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 6.6 – 7src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 11.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Photos of the baillon's crake
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the baillon's crake live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The baillon's crake is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the baillon's crake?
Baillon's crake (Zapornia pusilla), also known as the marsh crake, is a small waterbird of the family Rallidae.
From the Wikipedia article “Baillon's crake” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baillon%27s_crake&oldid=1351938950), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the baillon's crake sound like?
Is the baillon's crake endangered?
The baillon's crake is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the baillon's crake classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderGruiformes
- familyRallidae
- genusZapornia
- SpeciesZapornia pusilla (Pallas, 1776)
Synonyms Crex baillonii, Gallinula pusilla, Porzana pusilla, Rallus pusillus, Schoenocrex pusilla
Other names and names in other languages (104)
- Baillon’s crakeEnglish
- Marsh crakeEnglish
- KleinriethaanAfrikaans
- مرعة بيلونArabic
- مرعة بايلونArabic
- مرعة بيلونيةArabic
- gallineta nanaAsturian
- CırtdanAzerbaijani
- Һыу себешеBashkir
- Пагоніч-крошкаBelarusian
- Малка пъструшкаBulgarian
- Rakig korrBreton
- RascletCatalan
- PicardonaCatalan
- rasclet europeuCatalan
- Вӗтӗ шывавтаньChuvash
- chřástal nejmenšíCzech
- rhegen BaillonWelsh
- Rhegennod BaillonWelsh
- dværgrørvagtelDanish
- ZwergsumpfhuhnGerman
- ΝανοπουλάδαGreek
- ΒαλτοπουλλάδαGreek
- nana raloEsperanto
- Pigmea porzanoEsperanto
- Polluela chicaSpanish
- värbhuikEstonian
- Uroilanda txikiBasque
- یلوه نوک سبزPersian
- kääpiöhuittiFinnish
- DvørgsmettaFaroese
- Râle de BaillonFrench
- Marouette de BaillonFrench
- Gearr biorraIrish
- Gearr BaillonIrish
- Poliña pequenaGalician
- Eean raip begManx
- Eean raip BaillonManx
- ברודית גמדיתHebrew
- ברודית גמדית )פורצנה גמדית(Hebrew
- mala štijokaCroatian
- törpevízicsibeHungarian
- Գաճաճ ճահճահովվիկArmenian
- Ճահճահովվիկ գաճաճArmenian
- Tikusan kerdilIndonesian
- DvergrellaIcelandic
- schiribilla grigiataItalian
- ヒメクイナJapanese
- ჭაობის პაწაწა ქათამურაGeorgian
- БгъэнджэдасмыджKabardian
- Титтей тартарKazakh
- 쇠뜸부기Korean
- Katukutukukwn
- ZwergrallLuxembourgish
- mažoji švygždaLithuanian
- Nykštukinė vištelėLithuanian
- ceru ormanītisLatvian
- BirindranoMalagasy
- KotorekeMāori
- KoitarekeMāori
- мала барска кокошкаMacedonian
- мала блатна кокошкаMacedonian
- Мала блатна (Патуљаста) кокошкаMacedonian
- ചെറിയ നെല്ലിക്കോഴിMalayalam
- Gallozz tal-FaxxiMaltese
- Оодон түнжгэрMongolian
- लावा फटाकडीMarathi
- Burung Tikus SiberiaMalay
- dvergrikseNorwegian Bokmål
- झिलीNepali
- kleinst waterhoenDutch
- karliczkaPolish
- karliczka (zwyczajna)Polish
- Karliczka zwyczajnaPolish
- بیلون دک کریکWestern Panjabi
- franga-d'água-pequenaPortuguese
- franga-de-água-pequenaPortuguese
- Pulsauna naninaRomansh
- Cresteţ cenuşiuRomanian
- Cresteț cenuşiuRomanian
- погоныш-крошкаRussian
- DeaggajeaggevuonccisNorthern Sami
- chriašť najmenšíSlovak
- pritlikava tukalicaSlovenian
- NhapataShona
- porzana e vogëlAlbanian
- porzana frikacakeAlbanian
- Mali barski petlićSerbian
- Patuljasti barski petlic / Птаулјaсти барски петличSerbian
- dvärgsumphönaSwedish
- Kiluwiri MdogoSwahili
- นกอัญชันเล็กThai
- kucuk su tavuguTurkish
- küçük su tavuğuTurkish
- Küçük SuyelvesiTurkish
- Бичии сүрүкчүTuvinian
- Курочка-крихіткаUkrainian
- Погонич-крихіткаUkrainian
- Cuốc lùnVietnamese
- IsazenzaXhosa
- 小田鸡Chinese
- 小秧雞Chinese
- 小秧雞〔小田雞〕Chinese
- isiZinziZulu
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the baillon's crake
Other species in the same genus Zapornia.
Little crake
Zapornia parva
Ruddy-breasted crake
Zapornia fusca
Brown crake
Zapornia akool
Spotless crake
Zapornia tabuensis
Black crake
Zapornia flavirostra
Henderson crake
Zapornia atra
CompareBaillon's crake vs Little crakeBaillon's crake vs Ruddy-breasted crakeBaillon's crake vs Brown crakeBaillon's crake vs Spotless crake
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is Baillon's crake?
Baillon's crake is a bird in the family Rallidae, order Gruiformes. It is a small, migratory, terrestrial bird.
How heavy is Baillon's crake?
An adult Baillon's crake weighs 35.4 g, which places it in the small size class (10 g to 1 kg).
What does Baillon's crake eat?
Baillon's crake is an aquatic predator and a carnivore.
Which countries is Baillon's crake recorded in?
Checklists record Baillon's crake in Australia. Its habitat is wetland.
Is Baillon's crake endangered?
No. Baillon's crake is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How many eggs does Baillon's crake lay?
Baillon's crake lays 6.6 eggs per clutch, up to 7, and has 2 clutches per year. The eggs are incubated for 16 days.
When does Baillon's crake reach sexual maturity?
Baillon's crake reaches sexual maturity at 363.5 days, just under one year.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Baillon's crake (Zapornia pusilla). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/baillons-crake
“Baillon's crake (Zapornia pusilla).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/baillons-crake.
@misc{baillons_crake_2026,
title = {Baillon's crake (Zapornia pusilla)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/baillons-crake},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}