This waterbird is a rail with mostly black plumage, red eyes and legs, and a yellow bill. It is active by day in freshwater marshes, eating water insects, small fish, frogs, and seeds.
Adults are mostly black, with an olive-brown tone on the wings and upperparts. The eyes and legs are red, the bill is yellow, and the sexes look alike.
At a small dam in Nairobi’s Langata suburb, observers followed one Black Crake family. The paper reports 16 nesting attempts; its table records breeding from July 1989 through February 1995. Family membership changed over time, reaching 12 birds and including as many as seven age classes. Notes span the first record in September 1988 to February 1996, with 2,423 observation days and more than 2,400 entries.
Juveniles and immatures helped care for young from as many as four later clutches. The notes describe a bird still receiving food from its parents also carrying food to younger hatchlings. They also record two plumage forms, grey and sooty, in the third immature stage.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
At a small dam in Nairobi’s Langata suburb, one Black Crake family was observed over several years. The paper’s text dates the first record to September 1988 and the notes continue to February 1996; it reports 16 nesting attempts. Papyrus, cattails, reeds, and water lilies grew along the water.