Porzana tabuensis
Silhouette: T. Michael Keesey (vectorization) and HuttyMcphoo (photography) · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The spotless crake (Zapornia tabuensis) is a species of bird in the rail family, Rallidae. It is widely distributed species occurring from the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand across the southern Pacific Ocean to the Marquesas Islands to the south east along the Tuamotus island chain to Pitcairn Oeno island.
The spotless crake was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other crakes and rails in the genus Rallus and coined the binomial name Rallus tabuensis. Gmelin's account is taken from that of the "Tabuan rail" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham's description was probably based on a plate painted by the German naturalist Georg Forster who had accompanied the British explorer James Cook on his second voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The genus name is an anagram of the genus Porzana that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis-Pierre Vieillot. The specific epithet tabuensis is from Tongatapu, Tonga, the type locality. The spotless crake... Wikipedia →
Recording0:20
New Zealand · 2026
© Mark Newton · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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Australia · 2024
© deborod · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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New Zealand · 2024
© Caiden · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fiordland National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 2 | Abel Tasman National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 3 | Great Otway National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty Rail sighting in Abel Tasman National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 66th most-seen of the 69 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty Rail in Abel Tasman National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June to April, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sooty Rail sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Sooty Rail sightings, Abel Tasman National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Fiordland National Park (New Zealand, under 5%).
Same family: Rallidae
The closest relatives of the Sooty Rail that you can see in Abel Tasman National Park (family Rallidae, Rails, Gallinules, and Coots) are Weka (about 80%), South-west Pacific Swamphen (about 50%) and Buff-banded Rail (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sooty Rail is recorded against all the birds logged in Abel Tasman National Park (5 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
