The spotless crake (Zapornia tabuensis ) is a species of bird in the rail family, Rallidae.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withIn New Zealand, the spotless crake, also known as pūweto, is distributed throughout the mainland. Numbers are few in the South Island with only a handful of isolated communities on the west coast, east coast, and Southland, New Zealand. The distribution in the North Island is spread far wider, but there are still few communities. Most sightings of spotless crake tend to be near the top of the North Island. Nationally important sites include: Awarua-Waituna wetland complex in Southland, New Zealand, Great Barrier Island, Kermadec Islands, Lake Wairarapa, Poor Knights Islands, Tiritiri Matangi Island, and Whangamarino wetland in Waikato.
s on the west coast, east coast, and Southland, New Zealand. The distribution in the North Island is spread far wider, but there are still few communities. Most sightings of spotless crake tend to be near the top of the North Island. Nationally important sites include: Awarua-Waituna wetland complex in Southland, New Zealand, Great Barrier Island, Kermadec Islands, Lake Wairarapa, Poor Knights Islands, Tiritiri Matangi Island, and Whangamarino wetland in Waikato.
Other than the mainland the spotless crake has been found on many offshore islands including: ‘Kermadec Islands, Manawatäwhi/ Three Kings Island, Poor Knights Island, and the Chatham Islands’. Fossils of the spotless crake from the Holocene period have also been found on the mainland, as well as the Chatham Islands.
Because the spotless crake is rarely seen, it is hard to determine what the population size is, so currently population numbers are unknown in New Zealand.
It is believed that the reason spotless crake are rarely found in the South Island, New Zealand is due to the more dominant rail the marsh crake pushing the spotless crake out of suitable habitat, as the natural habitat of the two species are very similar. Another reason may be that spotless crakes are not as tolerant of the colder climates of the South Island, being mainly found in warmer coastal localities.
Spotless crakes are freshwater wetland birds. Their preferred habitat is wetland and swamp areas that contain dense vegetation in which to build their nests from. They can be found foraging on open muddy areas near dense vegetation, but when disturbed they retreat back into the vegetation. On some small offshore islands, where wetlands are sparse, they have been known to live and forage in dry forest. Although raupo tends to be the preferred habitat for spotless crake, they have also been found in swamp areas composed of flax (Phormium tenax ), tussock sedge (Carex secta ), and cabbage tree (Cordyline australis ). If habitat is not ideal, they are also able to migrate locally, which other subspecies do elsewhere.
Spotless crake are omnivorous. Their diet consists of seeds, fruits, shoots of grasses, leaves of aquatic plants, adult and larval insects, mollusks, crustaceans, spiders, carrion, worms, beetles, and other insects.
