Lord Howe Woodhen (Gallirallus sylvestris, Raillidae: Crakes and Rails) Lord Howe Island, NSW, Australia

The Lord Howe Woodhen is a large flightless rail unique to Lord Howe Island, a small, sub-tropical oceanic sea-mount island some 570km of the east coast of Australia, a third of the way to New Zealand. Like many birds that have been long isolated on remote islands the Woodhen is flightless, very tame and very vulnerable to predation by humans and introduced animals, in this case pigs and to a lesser extent feral cats.

By the late 1970’s the population was close to extinction and down to less than 30 birds surviving at the tops of two mountains in the south of the island, where pigs could not get at them. Removal of the pigs and eventually the island cats, combined with a world first captive breeding and release program has successfully returned the Woodhen population to about what the environment on the island can support, with more than 200 birds being present now. They can be now be found in and around settled areas and pasture land as well as native bush. Here we can see several birds, some ringed some not, plus a dependent chick, going about their business of finding food. While doing OK at the moment, being only found on one small island means that it remains very vulnerable to unforeseen events. It remains the sole survivor of Lord Howe's unique endemic bird species, following the arrival of humans and associated mammals

These days its share its habitat with the much smaller and highly dispersive Buff-banded Rail. Also see the Weka, its also flightless relative in New Zealand - https://vimeo.com/147205896

See more on these birds at http://www.lordhoweisland.info/library/woodhen.pdf and

https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/native-animals/native-animal-facts/lord-howe-island-woodhen

Also see the Weka, its New Zealand flightless relative at: https://vimeo.com/147205896