Cranes, Rails and Their Relatives

Cranes, rails and about ten other families form the order of Gruiformes. The most widespread family, Rallidae, consists of rails and coots. Rails are secretive birds of dense low vegetation, such as marshes. They occur through much of the world, and have even colonized many oceanic islands. Rails are short-winged, and their flight appears labored, although many species are highly migratory. Some forms from oceanic islands, are flightless and have been tragically susceptible to extinction. Rails have long toes which enable them to walk on floating vegetation. Coots are heavy duck-like birds that paddle through the water with lobed toes.

Cranes form a family of 15 species and are found through most of the temperate and tropical areas of the world. They are large long-necked, long-legged wading or land birds, that are superficially heron-like (although cranes fly with their necks outstretched). Many species of cranes are threatened with extinction.

The remaining families that taxonomists traditionally place within the order of Gruiformes consist of aquatic, grassland, and forest species. Most are small families of uncertain relationships including such groups as limpkins, sungrebes, sunbitterns, and bustards. Some of these groups may actually be related to the order of Charadriiformes.