Spotless Crake Zapornia tabuensis Scientific name definitions

15–18 cm; male 34–56 (45·5) g, female 21–58 (40)g; wingspan 26–29 cm. Sexes alike. Easily distinguished from all sympatric small crakes: reddish chocolate brown upperparts, dark slate grey head, neck and underparts , white outermost primary and leading edge of wing, black and white bars on undertail-coverts  , red iris  and orbital ring, black bill , and salmon pink legs and feet . Immature like adult. Juvenile  similar to adult but dark brown from forehead to hindneck and on lores; brownish wash on face and sides of throat; white chin and throat; upperparts less red-brown than in adult, and underparts dark grey-brown; some have narrow white supercilium extending to above eye; bill black with pink base; iris brownish orange; legs and feet grey-brown to brownish flesh. Races separated on: size, <em>tabuensis</em> smallest; and colour of upperparts, olive brown in richardsoni, deep chocolate in edwardi.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Usually dense vegetation in, or at margins of, freshwater or saline wetlands , either permanent or ephemeral. Occurs in marshes, swamps, salt-marsh and peat bogs; also at margins of rivers, streams, tidal creeks, ponds and lakes. May prefer wetlands with shallow, slow-flowing water; overstorey of willows (Salix), or tall reedbed vegetation such as Typha orientalis, may be important requirement of breeding habitat in New Zealand. Frequently inhabits artificial wetlands such as salt-works, sewage farms, rice paddies, taro ponds, irrigation channels, farmland, golf courses, lawns and gardens. Also occurs on fern-covered hillsides, and in heathy flats and coastal scrub; on some islands occupies low forest and also rocky or stony habitats without standing water. Ranges from sea-level up to c. 3300m in New Guinea, where most widespread in highlands.

Molluscs, crustaceans (ostracods and amphipods), Collembola, adult and larval insects (Ephemeroptera, Coleoptera, Diptera and Orthoptera), spiders; eggs of shearwaters, petrels and terns; seeds, fruit and shoots of grasses and aquatic plants. Also recorded feeding on carcass of cow. Crepuscular and diurnal; usually feeds on ground, but also in trees (Kermadec Is), foraging among foliage and nests of noddies (Anous); swims readily. Forages on mud and in shallow water , in or near marsh vegetation, along tidelines adjacent to dense vegetation, at margins of still and flowing water, and in short grass; also in and around petrel burrows; searches leaf litter in forests, scratching with feet and moving or turning over litter with bill; sometimes feeds in thickets.

Australia, Sept–Jan; New Zealand, Aug–Jan; New Caledonia, Oct; Vanuatu, probably Sept–Feb; Society Is, Jul. Monogamous; possibly pairs for life. Record of 3 adults accompanying young. Territorial, possibly throughout year. Nest shallowly to deeply cupped, of woven dry grass and rushes; placed in clump of sedges or rushes, centre of grass tussock, or small bush in reedbed; often placed over water, sometimes on ground; also against stump of tree-fern, under tangled ferns, brambles or dense bushes. External diameter 10–23 cm, depth 5–20 cm; cup diameter c. 8 cm, depth c. 4 cm; height above water 3–150 cm. Role of male in building uncertain; female bends reeds to form canopy over nest; one or more ramps of nesting material constructed from water to rim; pair often build several roosting nests for use by family. Usually 3–4 eggs (2–6), laid at daily intervals; later clutches larger than earlier ones; island populations may lay smaller clutches than mainland birds; incubation  19–22 days, by both sexes; hatching synchronous, or asynchronous in large clutches; black down  of chick has greenish sheen, bill black with pink saddle at base of upper mandible (later pink base to both mandibles), iris black or blue-grey, legs and feet dark brown-grey, pink at rear of tarsus; chicks leave nest after 1–2 days; fed and cared for by both parents, probably being attended until 4–5 months old; first feathers appear at c. 15 days; captive birds were almost fully feathered at 40 days, but remiges were not fully grown at 66 days; post-juvenile moult recorded Sept–May. May have 2 broods in Australia and New Zealand; if nesting delayed, may raise 1 large brood rather than 2 smaller broods; relays after clutch loss.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). In Australia suitable habitat lost through drainage of wetlands, but species probably still plentiful in many areas, though overlooked: birds readily occupy artificial wetlands, farmland and sometimes garden habitats, and in some areas rise in water table due to irrigation has possibly enhanced habitat. Widespread and sparse to common in New Zealand, where wetland habitats have been reduced; on Aorangi, Poor Knights Is, increased from 1930s with development of low mixed forest after human occupation ceased and pigs were removed (pigs adversely affected habitat by restricting regeneration of low forest, destroying nesting cover and disturbing leaf litter); declined from 1950s as low mixed forest was replaced by tall forest. Has become rare on Norfolk I, where population reduced by rats, and extinct on Raoul I (Kermadecs). Elsewhere formerly regarded as either genuinely uncommon or overlooked, except that edwardi was thought fairly common within its restricted range. Currently regarded as rare in Philippines, but possibly more widespread than is known. Distribution and status in New Guinea imperfectly known; apparently locally rare to common. Appears to have suffered population reductions and local extinction throughout Pacific islands, often where it has encountered man and his introduced commensals. Local and uncommon in Vanuatu, where could face extinction as result of swamp pollution or destruction. In E Polynesia disappeared from Gambier Is in 1920s but still occurs in Marquesas and Tuamotus, and on Oeno (Pitcairn group), where population very small. In 1985 rediscovered on Ta'u I, American Samoa (1 Engbring, J. and Engilis, A. (1988). Rediscovery of the Sooty Rail (Porzana tabuensis) in American Samoa. Auk. 105: 391. Close ), where population small and probably decreasing as habitat diminishes with reduction in subsistence agriculture; recorded again in 2001–2002 (2 Rauzon, J.J. and Fialua, M. (2003). Status of the spotless crake (Porzana tabuensis) in American Samoa. Wilson Bulletin. 115: 489–491. Close ) and in 2011 (3 Adler, G.H., Lalogafu’afu’a, A., Seamon, J.O., West, R. Jr., Fa’aumu, S. and Atkinson, C.T. (2010). Persistence of the Spotless Crake (Porzana tabuensis) on Ta’u, American Samoa. Notornis. 57: 216–217. Close ).