20
LITTLE-KNOWN ASIAN BIRD
First breeding record of the Drummer Rail
Habroptila wallacii
HANOM BASHARI & BAS VAN BALEN
The Drummer Rail (also known as Wallace’s,
Halmahera or Invisible Rail) Habroptila wallacii,
endemic to Halmahera Island in the northern
Moluccas, Indonesia, is a little known flightless rail
of dense swampy areas, in particular sago swamps
(Heinrich 1956, White & Bruce 1986, Taylor 1996,
Coates & Bishop 1997). Because of its rarity and
habitat destruction it is considered globally
Vulnerable (BirdLife International 2001).
A Drummer Rail with two hatchlings was
encountered and reported by Mr Mahrurroji (Pak
Roji) and his wife several km south-south-west of
Plate 1. Two Drummer Rail Habroptila wallacii chicks on their
nest, near Binaraga village, Halmahera, 20 November 2010.
HANOM BASHARI
Plate 2. Another view of the Drummer Rail chicks on their nest,
20 November 2010; note the long bare pinkish index and the
white pollux nail of the chick on the right.
HANOM BASHARI
BirdingAsia15b.p65 20
BirdingASIA 15 (2011): 20–22
Binagara village in Aketajawe Lolobata National
Park (ALNP) at 0.73ºN 127.8ºE, Halmahera Timur
regency, Maluku Utara province, on 17 November
2010. As the day before the eggs were still intact,
the hatching must have taken place shortly before
the birds were seen. During the following two days
the nest was monitored by Pak Roji, who could
approach within 2–3 m of the bird, which assumed
a defensive posture. The villagers who reported
the rails were unfamiliar with the species, partly
because of their relatively recent arrival in the
region, but HB had shown them illustrations of the
bird and emphasised the importance of reporting
if they were seen.
On 20 November 2010 HB, who had been
informed about the sighting, visited the nest site at
11h00 and observed the nest containing two chicks
(Plates 1 & 2) standing rather unsteadily on their
feet and giving weak squeaks reminiscent of freshly
hatched domestic chickens. After about an hour,
one of the parent birds (Plate 3) attended the chicks.
Initially this bird walked cautiously around the nest
site area, as it was most likely aware of the presence
of the observer. The bird uttered a soft drumming
call (BirdLife International 2011) in rapid bouts of
about 2 seconds’ duration, which were repeated at
irregular intervals. Not long afterwards a second
bird appeared, possibly the male, from behind the
observer, but this ran away quickly when it became
aware of the human intruder. In the meantime the
other bird walked quietly but cautiously onto the
nesting stump using an over-leaning Pigafetta palm
frond as a bridge. When the adult arrived at the
nest, the chicks gradually became silent and
approached the adult. The chicks then disappeared,
but it was not clear whether they fell off the stump,
or walked along the palm frond; the adult bird went
back along the palm frond and disappeared, whilst
uttering the same drumming calls as when it
arrived.
The chicks were entirely covered in black down,
with conspicuous, sharp and curved white pollux
nails, typical of the rail family (Fjeldså 1977) and
strikingly pinkish bare skin of the index. The eyes
had a sky-blue pupil and grey iris, but colourless
eye-ring; the blunt bill was black with a pale tip,
and in both chicks the white egg teeth were still
present; their legs were brown with black streaks.
The first, larger chick had started to develop reddish
7/4/2011, 11:41 AM
 BirdingASIA 15 (2011) 21

whereas back and wings were brownish black. The

tail was very short and hardly visible. The bill was
intense red in colour, thick, sharp and long. The
eye-ring and iris were bright red with a black pupil.
The tarsus was strong and almost the same colour
as the bill.
On 29 November 2010 an adult Drummer Rail
was seen by Pak Roji with two chicks, near a small
irrigation dike 400 m from the nest site; the legs of
one of these chicks had already become reddish.
In December 2008 two birds were seen by HB
along the bank of a medium-sized river in slightly
disturbed primary forest behind Tukur-Tukur
village (Dodaga, north-east Halmahera), during a
survey in the ALNP; this was about 15 km from
the coast, at 600 m. Local guides during a
biodiversity survey in February 2011 reported
several sightings of the rails along a riverbank in
forest about 10 km from Iga village (north-east
Halmahera).
Local people in Jailolo (per P. Taylor in Ripley
& Beehler 1985) reported the observation of an adult
Drummer Rail with 4–5 striped chicks. However,
HANOM BASHARI

this information was considered to be doubtful as

a striped plumage is atypical in the rail family where
the usual colour of down is black or dark brown,
with few exceptions (Taylor 1996, Taylor & van
Plate 3. Adult Drummer Rail approaching the nest site, near Perlo 1998). As the present observations show, the
Binaraga village, Halmahera, 20 November 2010.
previous information on colour, and perhaps also
spots on the brown parts of the legs. Both chicks clutch size, was indeed wrong.
were photographed on the nest (Plates 1 & 2) and It is not known when the eggs were laid, but
measured: weight 29 and 27 g, bill length 16.4 and incubation time for similar-sized rails is around
15.1 mm, nostril to bill-tip 10.9 and 10.7 mm, tarsus three weeks (Taylor 1996), so they may have been
29.0 and 26.7 mm, total length 91.6 and 84.1 mm. laid in the last week of October. The difference in
The nest was a shallow depression about 15 cm chick size is probably caused by asynchronous
deep on top of a rotten stump of a ballnut tree hatching, not unusal in rails where incubation starts
(bintangur) Calophyllum inophyllum, about 1 m
above the ground; the nest base consisted of fine Plate 4. Pieces of the eggshells of Drummer Rail as found at the
nest site, near Binaraga village, Halmahera, 20 November 2010.
decayed wood chips irregularly lined with dry
leaves. The site was at 46 m in secondary dry swamp
forest, dominated by wanga palms Pigafetta. It was
about 20 m from the 5 m-wide Wayamison River,
about 20 m from an old logging road overgrown by
secondary vegetation dominated by samama
Anthocephalus macrophyllus and binuang Octomeles
sumatrana trees, and about 50 m from actively
cultivated fields. Binaraga village is a so-called
transmigration area where migrants from Bayuwangi
(East Java) arrived in 1986.
The remains of the eggshells were found in the
nest, although largely scattered in small pieces. Their
basic colour of brownish-white with large dark
brown blotches and irregular smaller black and dark
HANOM BASHARI

brown spots could still be discerned (Plate 4).

The adult birds were about the size of the Dusky
Megapode Megapodius freycinet that occurs locally,
and had a bluish wash to the black head and neck,

BirdingAsia15b.p65 21 7/4/2011, 11:41 AM

 22
after the first egg is laid (Taylor & van Perlo 1998).
Rail chicks are precocial or semi-precocial, usually
leaving the nest within 1–3 days of hatching, and
the chicks may therefore have been about to leave
the nest when first seen. The eggshells were
apparently left in the nest, and not removed.
Local names for the Drummer Rail in at least
one case refer to the advertising call of the rail, which
sounds like soft drumbeats. The following names
are in use: soisa meaning ‘drum’ (Heinrich 1956),
tiblales in Weda language (de Haan 1950), rèrie in
Sawai language (de Haan 1950), o hetaka [ma you
itoka-tokara] in Jailolo, the extension meaning ‘red-
legged’ in Tobelo language (Ripley & Beehler 1985),
and also the Indonesian name mandar gendang
refers to this drumming call. However, no visiting
ornthologists have ever verified this, and sometimes
the calls have been confused with commoner rail
species (de Haan 1950). Other calls described are a
loud screaming, and, when frightened, a pig-like
scream (Heinrich 1956). The present descriptions
are the first that refer to directly observed contact
calls and those of chicks.
The people in Binagara had never seen a
Drummer Rail prior to the discovery of this nest,
which shows how secretive these rails are, even
though the nest location was actually in an area
frequently visited by local villagers. It is a
reforestation area within the national park, where
saplings of trees were planted only 1–2 months
before. An old logging trail not far from the nesting
site was still in use by locals for access to the forest.
Apparently the area was still suitable for nesting
despite a relatively intensive use by people. The
species may be less sensitive to habitat destruction
than was previously thought (Taylor 1996, BirdLife
International 2001).
Acknowledgements
Pak and Bu Roji are thanked for pointing out and
safe-guarding the rail nest, and subsequently
sharing their post-hatching observations at the nest
BirdingAsia15b.p65 22
First breeding record of the Drummer Rail Habroptila wallacii
site. Thanks also to Fani Varius Duke for his
interpretation of the local bird name in Tobelo
language. Thanks also to the staff at the Burung
Indonesia office in Bogor, and the Burung
Indonesia-Halmahera Programme office in Ternate,
in particular to team-leader Pak David Purmiasa,
for their support.
References
BirdLife International (2001) Threatened birds of Asia: the BirdLife
International Red Data Book. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife
International.
BirdLife International (2011) Species factsheet: Habroptila wallacii.
Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 25/01/2011.
Coates, B. J. & K. D. Bishop (1997) A guide to the birds of Wallacea.
Alderley, Australia: Dove Publications.
Fjeldså, J. (1977) Guide to the young of European precocial birds.
Tisvildeleje, Denmark: Skarv Nature Publications.
de Haan, G. A. L. (1950) Notes on the Invisible Flightless Rail of
Halmahera (Habroptila wallacii Gray). Amsterdam Naturalist 1: 57–
60.
Heinrich, G. (1956) Biologische Aufzeichnungen über Vögel von
Halmahera und Batjan. J. Orn. 97: 31–40.
Ripley, S. D. & Beehler, B. M. (1985) Rails of the world, a compilation of
new information, 1975–1983 (Aves, Rallidae). Smithsonian
Contrib. Zool. 417.
Taylor, P. B. (1996) Family Rallidae (Rails, gallinules and coots). Pp.108–
209 in J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott & J. Sargatal, eds. Handbook of the
birds of the world, 3. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.
Taylor, B. & van Perlo, B. (1998) Rails. Sussex: Pica Press.
White, C. M. N. & Bruce, M. D. (1986) The birds of Wallacea. London:
British Ornithologists’ Union.
Hanom Bashari
Burung Indonesia – Program Halmahera
Jl. Seruni No 2 Kampung Pisang Ternate 97722 Maluku
Utara, Indonesia
Email: h.bashari@burung.org
Bas van Balen
Roompotstraat 44, 6826 EP Arnhem, The Netherlands
Email: bvanbalen001@hotmail.com
7/4/2011, 11:42 AM