White-breasted Waterhen

The white-breasted waterhen is a rail widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia. Adults are dark slaty above with a clean white face, neck and breast, a cinnamon or white lower belly, a short tail and a yellow bill and legs. Females are slightly smaller. It is bolder than most rails and often seen stepping slowly with its tail cocked in open marshes or roadside drains (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is largely crepuscular, and just after the first rains in the breeding season it gives loud, repetitive croaking calls.