The Gruiformes are an order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Gruiform means "crane-like".
Rails are a large, cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized terrestrial and/or semi-amphibious birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity in its forms, and includes such ubiquitous species as the crakes, coots, and gallinule; other rail species are extremely rare or endangered. Many are associated with wetland habitats, some being semi-aquatic like waterfowl, but many more are wading birds or shorebirds. The ideal rail habitats are marsh areas, including rice paddies, and flooded fields or open forest. They are especially fond of dense vegetation for nesting. The rail family is found in every terrestrial habitat with the exception of dry desert, polar or freezing regions, and alpine areas. Members of Rallidae occur on every continent except Antarctica. Numerous unique island species are known.
The Calayan rail is a flightless bird of the rail, moorhen, and coot family (Rallidae) that inhabits Calayan Island in the Philippines. It is the only member of the genus Aptenorallus. Though well known to natives of the island as the "piding", it was first observed by ornithologist Carmela Española in May 2004 and the discovery was officially announced on August 16, 2004. The formal description as a species new to science appeared in the journal Forktail.
The Lord Howe woodhen also known as the Lord Howe Island woodhen or Lord Howe (Island) rail, is a flightless bird of the rail family, (Rallidae). It is endemic to Lord Howe Island off the Australian coast. It is currently classified as endangered by the IUCN.
The extinct Wake Island rail was a flightless rail and the only native land bird on the Pacific atoll of Wake. It was found on the islands of Wake and Wilkes, and Peale, which is separated from the others by a channel of about 100 meters. It was hunted to extinction during World War II.
Gallirallus is a genus of rails that live in the Australasian-Pacific region. The genus is characterised by an ability to colonise relatively small and isolated islands and thereafter to evolve flightless forms, many of which became extinct following Polynesian settlement.
The Tahiti rail, Tahitian red-billed rail, or Pacific red-billed rail is an extinct species of rail that lived on Tahiti. It was first recorded during James Cook's second voyage around the world (1772–1775), on which it was illustrated by Georg Forster and described by Johann Reinhold Forster. No specimens have been preserved. As well as the documentation by the Forsters, there have been claims that the bird also existed on the nearby island of Mehetia. The Tahiti rail appears to have been closely related to, and perhaps derived from, the buff-banded rail, and has also been historically confused with the Tongan subspecies of that bird.
The buff-banded rail is a distinctively coloured, highly dispersive, medium-sized rail of the rail family, Rallidae. This species comprises several subspecies found throughout much of Australasia and the south-west Pacific region, including the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and numerous smaller islands, covering a range of latitudes from the tropics to the subantarctic.
The grey-throated rail is a species of bird in the family Rallidae, the only member of the genus Canirallus. It is found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
The lesser moorhen is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is sometimes placed into the genus Gallinula. It is the only member of the genus Paragallinula.
Dieffenbach's rail, known in the Moriori language as meriki or mehoriki, is an extinct flightless species of bird from the family Rallidae. It was endemic to the Chatham Islands.
The pink-legged rail, also known as the New Britain rail, is a species of bird in the family Rallidae.
The Okinawa rail is a species of bird in the rail family, Rallidae. It is endemic to Okinawa Island in Japan where it is known as the Yanbaru kuina. Its existence was only confirmed in 1978 and it was formally described in 1981 although unidentified rails had been recorded on the island since at least 1973 and local stories of a bird known as the agachi kumira may refer to this species.
The Roviana rail is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is endemic to the Western Province.
Sharpe's rail is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is known only from the type specimen of unknown origin, but it has been speculated that it originated from Indonesia. Due to the lack of recent records, it has been considered extinct, but new evidence suggests it is possibly better regarded as a morph of the buff-banded rail.
The bar-winged rail is an extinct species of bird in the family Rallidae. It was endemic to Fiji and was last collected ca 1890 in Viti Levu. The species was identified from twelve 19th century specimens, some of which are known to be in Boston, London and New York. The last unconfirmed sighting of this bird was in 1973.
Woodford's rail is a species of bird in the family Rallidae.
Sarothruridae is a family of small- to medium-sized ground-living birds found mostly in Madagascar and sub-Saharan Africa, with the genus Rallicula being restricted to New Guinea and the Moluccas. The species in this family were once considered to sit with the larger rail family Rallidae.
The Ua Huka rail is an extinct species of flightless bird in the Rallidae, or rail family.
The Vava'u rail is an extinct species of bird in Rallidae. It was first described in 1793 from an illustration. In 2020 subfossil remains were found on the island of Vuna, in the Vava'u island group of Tonga.
