Western Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus) - BirdLife species factsheet

Western Water Rail Rallus aquaticus

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note

Rallus aquaticus and R. indicus (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as R. aquaticus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Species attributes

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	34,100,000 km²	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	31,200,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	600000-1499999 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.6 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The European population is estimated at 157,000-346,000 pairs, which equates to 314,000-693,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms approximately 50% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 630,000-1,400,000 mature individuals. The population is therefore placed in the band 600,000-1,499,999 mature individuals.

Trend justification: The overall population trend is decreasing, although some populations have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2015). The European population trend is unknown (BirdLife International 2015).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native			yes
Albania	extant	native	yes
Algeria	extant	native
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	native	yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Bahrain	extant	native	yes			yes
Belarus	extant	native	yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Brunei	extant	vagrant
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes			yes
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cyprus	extant	native			yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes
Egypt	extant	native
Estonia	extant	native		yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native			yes
Finland	extant	native	yes			yes
France	extant	native	yes			yes
Georgia	extant	native		yes
Germany	extant	native	yes			yes
Greece	extant	native	yes			yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native
Hungary	extant	native	yes
Iceland	extant	native			yes
India	extant	native		yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes
Iraq	extant	native			yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes
Israel	extant	native
Italy	extant	native	yes
Jordan	extant	native			yes	yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kuwait	extant	native	yes			yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native	yes			yes
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	native	yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native	yes
Madagascar	extant	native		yes
Malaysia	extant	vagrant
Malta	extant	native			yes
Moldova	extant	native	yes
Montenegro	extant	native	yes
Morocco	extant	native
Myanmar	extant	native
Nepal	extant	vagrant
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Norway	extant	native		yes
Oman	extant	native			yes	yes
Pakistan	extant	native
Palestine	extant	native			yes	yes
Poland	extant	native	yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Qatar	extant	native			yes	yes
Romania	extant	native	yes			yes
Russia	extant	native		yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native	yes
Serbia	extant	native	yes
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
Spain	extant	native	yes
Sri Lanka	extant	vagrant
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant
Sweden	extant	native	yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	native			yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native		yes
Tajikistan	extant	native		yes
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Ukraine	extant	native	yes			yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native	yes			yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes
Yemen	extant	native			yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Kyrgyzstan	Tokmak Pheasant Reserve
Serbia	Carska bara
Serbia	Jegricka
Serbia	Pašnjaci Velike Droplje
Serbia	Srednje Potamišje
Serbia	Subotica lakes and sandy terrain

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Canals and Drainage Channels, Ditches	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Excavations (open)	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Excavations (open)	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Irrigated Land (includes irrigation channels)	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Wastewater Treatment Areas	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Lakes	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Marshes/Pools	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Shrub Dominated Wetlands	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 2000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threats & impact

Threat (level 1)

Threat (level 2)

Impact and Stresses

Climate change & severe weather

Storms & flooding

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Future

Minority (<50%)

Rapid Declines

Low Impact: 5

Stresses
Ecosystem degradation, Species mortality

Climate change & severe weather

Temperature extremes

Timing

Scope

Severity

Impact

Ongoing

Minority (<50%)

Rapid Declines

Medium Impact: 6

Stresses
Species mortality

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Western Water Rail Rallus aquaticus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/western-water-rail-rallus-aquaticus on 22/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/11/2024.