Spotless crake

The spotless crake, sooty rail, pūweto, puweto, or putoto (Zapornia tabuensis) is a bird in the family Rallidae. It lives in the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, other parts of Polynesia, and two subspecies have been found high in the hills in New Guinea.  Scientists do not know much about them because they hide so well.

Appearance

The spotless crake is about half the size of a blackbird.  It is about 20 cm long.  It weighs about 45 g.  It has blue-gray and black feathers.  It has orange-pink legs.  It has a black beak.

Habitat and food
Spotless crakes live in wetlands that have fresh water, not salt water.  They look for food where the plants grow close together.  Sometimes they will walk out on bare mud, but they run back into the plants if they think they are in danger.

The spotless crake eats the seeds of many plants, but it also eats animals without bones, for example beetles and worms.  This bird is crepuscular, which means it looks for food at dawn and dusk.

Breeding
Spotless crakes form one-on-one pairs to lay eggs.  They build nests out of pieces of grass woven together.  The nest is 30-50 cm above the water.  Sometimes they build platforms near the nest.  The female lays 2-5 eggs at a time.  Both the male and female crake sit on the eggs.  The eggs take 20-22 days to hatch. The chicks stay in the nest for about 4 days.  They can catch some of their own food at that age.  Both parents care for the chicks for 4-5 months.

Threats

Human beings change their wetlands into farms.  Introduced species brought by humans can also kill the crake.

References

Category:Birds of Oceania
Category:Rallidae