27 March 2021

Many water rails spend the winter on our islands. Just like this individual we filmed in Ventotene. In spring they fly to the mainland to nest. On the islands they mainly frequent meadows and also the undergrowth of the mediterranean scrub with Cistus sp., where the soil is often covered by a layer of wet mosses and lichens. Rather unexpected environments, quite different from the humid zones where it is normally found in the other periods of the year.

Its Italian name “porciglione” derives from its voic, recalling the grunt of a pig (“porco” means pig)