These birds are among the smaller members of their family, none being larger than a chicken and some really tiny, smaller than a
starling or
thrush. Their upperparts are a
cryptic lighter or darker brownish hue. The underside is also brown in some, but more often buff or grey. Several species have patterns like whitish dots or black-and-white barred flanks, conspicuous close up, but at a distance providing additional camouflage in these birds'
habitat. Some others are rather uniformly blackish-brown all over. The bill and feet are often brightly colored in red to yellow hues; the eyes'
iris has some reddish-brownish hue, sometimes being bright red and also very conspicuous at close quarters.
Porzana males and females generally differ barely if at all; in the
little crake (
P. parva), however, they differ so much they might be mistaken for separate species. (
P. fluminea) Most species of
Porzana crakes inhabit wetlands. Some, however, are (or were) found on rocky islands with little water; even these, though, prefer places where abundant vegetation provides a dense ground-cover to hide in. They are usually reclusive and shy, but unlike the larger rails are active and inquisitive birds. When foraging, they will investigate anything that catches their attention and is not considered a
predator; in some places, this even includes any humans and their food or equipment that visit these birds' habitat. Their food is mostly small
invertebrates – typically
arthropods and
mollusks – as well as selected plants, seeds and fruit. This is complemented by any small
vertebrate they can catch, such as a fish or frog. They can swim if they need to and even dive a bit, but not for extended distances; rather, they prefer to clamber through dense
reeds to escape threats, or walk on floating vegetation or just passively drift around a spot when foraging. As usual for Rallidae, their flight is rather clumsy and their navigation skills and ability to maintain course against the wind are poor; on the other hand, their stamina in the air is exception for their small size; several species migrate thousands of kilometers every spring and autumn, while others originated from wind-blown individuals swept to oceanic islands just as far away from any continent. In this regard,
Porzana presently in fact stands supreme among the Rallidae, and even among birds in general it is quite remarkable for its
radiation of oceanic island lineages.
Gallirallus rivals it in extent, but unlike the cosmopolitan
Porzana crakes these rails simply originate in the region next to
Oceania and have otherwise not much spread beyond.
Porzana species, by contrast, are attested from islands in almost every ocean. As usual for oceanic-island Rallidae, a number of them eventually became flightless due to the rarity of predators on their ocean homes; most of them went
extinct from hunting and predation after humans and their accompanying animals reached these islands. The social and sexual habits of this genus do not markedly differ from the usual standards of their family. They possess the typical complex repertoire of calls, usually quite high-pitched due to the small size (the namesake "crake" calls), but in some situations communicate with a surprisingly deep booming calls.
Porzana crakes are
monogamous and defend a territory during the breeding season. For the rest of the year, the pairs split and territories are abandoned; pairmates often choose a different partner for the next breeding season. The nest sites are typically in hidden spots at the water's edge, but can be in any dense clump of vegetation between shallow water and dry land as the situation requires. Not much effort is put into building the nest; usually the parents do little more than press down the plants with their bodies. However, the nest cup is carefully lined with soft dry plant material, feathers or hair, which the parents collect specifically for this purpose. The
clutch is around 5–10 eggs (a few species have less) whose buffish color is more or less obscured by a rather even and dense cover of brown to purplish dots. The hatchlings are remarkably long-legged and covered blackish
down feathers as is typical for rails and crakes. They are
precocial and able to leave the nest immediately after recovering from hatching. After a few days they can accompany their parents on long walks, and the nest is soon deserted. After two months or so, the young learn to fly and are able to fend for their own, and have parted ways with their parents. If the pair nests early and/or the clutch fails, they will usually try to raise a second clutch in the same season. ==Extant and recently extinct species==