Story: Wetland birds

Distribution of banded rail, spotless crake and marsh crake

Click on a species name to see its New Zealand distribution in the early 2000s.

Banded rails live mainly in the north of the North Island, but are also in the northern South Island and on islands off southern Stewart Island. Spotless crakes are sparsely scattered through the North Island, with a few isolated occurrences in the South Island. They are also in the Kermadec Islands. The rare marsh crakes are present in a small number of wetland sites in the North and South islands.

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Source: C. J. R. Robertson, P. Hyvönen, M. J. Fraser, and C. R. Pickard, Atlas of bird distribution in New Zealand, 1999–2004. Wellington: Ornithological Society of New Zealand, 2007

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How to cite this page:

Christina Troup, 'Wetland birds - Rails and crakes', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/interactive/14651/distribution-of-banded-rail-spotless-crake-and-marsh-crake (accessed 28 March 2024)

Story by Christina Troup, published 24 Sep 2007, reviewed & revised 17 Feb 2015