page_title: List of birds of Tamil Nadu
section_title: Rails, crakes, and coots
hierarchical_section_title: List of birds of Tamil Nadu / Rails, crakes, and coots
caption_attribution_description: English: Purple Moore Hen found at Singanallur Tank, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
context_page_description: 578 species of birds have been spotted in Tamil Nadu. The list also sometimes includes the local Tamil name in italics following the English common name. This list's taxonomic treatment and nomenclature follow the conventions of the IOC World Bird List, version 10.2. This list also uses British English throughout. Any bird names or other wording follows that convention.
  The following tags have been used to highlight several categories. The commonly occurring native species do not fit within any of these categories.
  Accidental - Also known as a rarity, it refers to a species that rarely or accidentally occurs in Kerala-typically less than ten confirmed records.
  (I) Introduced - a species introduced to Tamil Nadu as a consequence, direct or indirect, of human actions.
context_section_description: Order: Gruiformes   Family: Rallidae
  Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds which includes the rails, crakes, coots and gallinules. Typically they inhabit dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps or rivers. In general they are shy and secretive birds, making them difficult to observe. Most species have strong legs and long toes which are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers.
  Slaty-breasted rail, neela maarbu sambang kozhi
  Common moorhen, thaazhai kozhi
  Eurasian coot, naamak kozhi
  Grey-headed swamphen, neela thazhai kozhi
  Ruddy-breasted crake, sivappu kaanaan kozhi
  Brown crake
  Baillon's crake
  Little crake, chinna kaanaan kozhi
  Slaty-legged crake, kaanan kozhi
  Watercock, thanneer kozhi
  White-breasted waterhen, kambul kozhi
caption: Grey-headed swamphen
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