Pūkeko
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The pūkeko, also known as the Australasian swamphen or purple gallinule, is a member of the family of birds known as “Rails”. This family also includes a number of other species also found in New Zealand including the takahē, banded rail, weka and Australian coot. Its most famous cousin amongst these birds is the rare flightless takahē (or Notornis), now found naturally only in the Murchison mountains west of Lake Te Anau.
Pūkeko have benefitted a great deal from the clearing of land for agriculture and are
widespread throughout New Zealand. Because of their relatively large size and conspicuous blue feathered chest and underparts, their bright red bill and frontal shield, long orange legs and toes and their white undertail feathers flashed at every step, there is little chance of them being miss-identified.
They are most commonly located foraging on swampy sheltered freshwater and semi-saline wetland habitats adjacent to open pasturelands, but are also to be found along roadside drainage ditches and the margins of shrub and forested areas.
Widespread throughout New Zealand, pūkeko are particularly abundant in the North Island and the west coast of the South Island. Their Conservation Status is Partially Protected Native and are listed on the Gamebird Schedule of the Wildlife Act 1953. This allows them to be legally harvested during the duck shooting season in many areas.
Where they congregate in large numbers they can be troublesome to some farming operations with damage occurring on some grain crops, garden vegetables and grassed paddocks. They aren’t however a prized food item or a particularly challenging target species and there have been instances when landowners and managers have sought permission to reduce excessive numbers by controlled shoots or poisoning.
Pukeko are largely vegetarian, their diet consisting of stems, shoots and leaves of grasses, sedges, rushes and clovers. Some animal matter is taken, including insects, spiders and earthworms.
Although pukeko are known to fly long distances and have successfully colonised many islands throughout Australasia, they are not strong flyers. When disturbed in places with ample cover they prefer to run or swim to safety, but will readily fly short distances to the nearest cover. Their take-off in such circumstances is laboured, running across the surface with rapid wingbeats, taking off with their long feet dangling and head and neck outstretched.
Pukeko enjoy all manner of mating and nesting scenarios. From monogamous pairings with well defended individual territories, to single male multiple female groups, single female to multiple male groups, and even multiple male and female groups. Any of these groups may also have non-breeding helpers who share some of the incubation duties. If multiple breeding females are present, all lay in the same nest. In such circumstances the total clutch size can reach 18 eggs.
Clutch size is usually in the order of 4-6 eggs per female. Male birds undertake most of the incubation duties. The eggs hatch after being incubated for about 25 days, with the chicks leaving their nests after a further 5 days. They are then fed by their parents and “helpers” for about 2 months before becoming independent.
Being a strongly territorial species, aggressive interaction between birds from neighboring groups can erupt quite frequently. This results in lengthy outbursts of posturing displays and loud screeching calls and is often followed by violent kicking and biting activity. Male birds are mostly involved in these conflicts.
