---
title: "Black Crake"
description: "Zapornia flavirostra — Uccelli. The black crake (Zapornia flavirostra) is a waterbird in the rail and crake family, Rallidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/black-crake
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Black Crake

> Zapornia flavirostra — Uccelli. The black crake (Zapornia flavirostra) is a waterbird in the rail and crake family, Rallidae.

- Scientific name: *Zapornia flavirostra*
- Category: `birds` (Uccelli)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Laghi e fiumi)
- iNaturalist observations: 3335
- Wikidata: [Q28106640](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28106640)
- iNaturalist taxon: [508918](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/508918)

## Names

- en: Black Crake
- de: Mohrensumpfhuhn
- es: Polluela negra africana
- fr: Marouette à bec jaune

## Countries with the most observations

ZA (1872), KE (227), TZ (199), UG (157), GM (102), BW (98), NA (95), ZW (57), MW (48), BJ (44), ET (42), SN (34)

## Summary

The black crake (Zapornia flavirostra) is a waterbird in the rail and crake family, Rallidae. It breeds in most of sub-Saharan Africa except in very arid areas. It undertakes some seasonal movements in those parts of its range which are subject to drought. No subspecies have been described. It appears that the oldest available name for this species is actually Rallus niger J. F. Gmelin, 1788, but Swainson believed that the earlier name was unidentifiable, and his own has since become well embedded in the literature.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_crake

## Photo

![Black Crake](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/black-crake/medium.jpg)

Photo: Christine Stone · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/293150811

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/black-crake?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).