Scientific name:
Eurypyga helias

Natural spread:
means, South America

the 42-50 cm of big Sonnenrallen lives means, and South America, from South-Mexico at the shores of jungle-rivers until Venezuela and to the Guyana-states; southwards as far as to the Mato Grosso Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. On the first gaze, Sonnenrallen like small herons with short legs and long tail look. they carry off snails and (predominant) insects as well as occasionally also amphibians and small fish from a careful stalk out, with beak-pushes fast as lightning. Also the long one and very sharpens, yellow beak lets a relationship suspected to herons. These birds are supplied by this zoologist however into the nearer relationship of the crane-birds; some even sever it as own order of the birds.

Way of life Sonnenrallen live individually outside the incubation mostly and properly hide. With concern, the shy birds fly quickly into the protective branches of the low shore-vegetation where they erect also (in few meters height) its big, round branch-nests. Also leaves, grass and moss work in Sonnenrallen into the construction; the Nistmulde and the lateral entrance are still from-dressed particularly with mud and clay. Both alto-birds erbrüten together for 27 days its two stained, reddish-brown eggs. The boys carry a brown Dunenkleid when slipping and are fed by both parents; they remove the insects directly from the beak of the alto-birds. Young Sonnenrallen are largely independently after 3 weeks and abandoned the nest. They already look like the adult birds in the age of 8 weeks finally. Free-living Sonnenrallen are hardly explored in its behavior until now, the mentioned observations come from caught animals. In its South American home, one thinks Sonnenrallen tamely of farmsteads in the surroundings from time to time.

Shape The plumage of these beautiful birds is scrutinized strikingly black, white, bay and sallow. If Sonnenrallen auffächern, approximately when sunbathing, its big, round wings and the long tail with the 12 tax-feathers, during which perform courtship display or in Drohstellung, this drawing gets the validity fully first.