 The corn crake winters mainly in Africa , from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and central Tanzania south to eastern South Africa . North of this area , it is mainly seen on migration , but occasionally winters in North Africa and to the west and north of its core area in southeast Africa . Most of the South African population of about 2 @,@ 000 birds occurs in KwaZulu @-@ Natal and the former <unk> Province , and numbers elsewhere in Africa are uncertain . There are several nineteenth @-@ century records , when populations were much higher than now , of birds being seen in western Europe , mainly Britain and Ireland , between December and February . 
