Australasian Swamphen

Porphyrio melanotus

The Australasian swamphen, commonly known as the pūkeko in New Zealand, is a striking and socially complex bird found in Oceania, including eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia. A member of the rail family, it is part of the diverse order Gruiformes, which includes species with similar characteristics such as cranes and other rail species. Within the Australasian swamphen species, five recognised subspecies exist, with P. m. melanotus being the most common and widely distributed in New Zealand. They display phenotypic characteristics typical of rails: relatively short wings and strong, elongated bills, adapted to its semi-aquatic lifestyle in wetlands. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 76,622 times across 21 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Oceania ranged from 38°S in May to 20°S in November, about 2,000 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.