The Henderson crake or red-eyed crake (''Zapornia atra'') is a species of

flightless bird Flightless birds are birds that through evolution lost the ability to fly. There are over 60 extant species, including the well known ratites (ostriches, emu, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwi) and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the In ...

in the family

Rallidae The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized, ground-living birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity and includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules. Many species are associated with wetlands, althoug ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Henderson Island in the southeast

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

. The population of this species is estimated to be 6,200 mature individuals, roughly equivalent to 9,300 individuals in total.

Habitat and ecology

The species is found in dense to open forest throughout the island plateau, both in forest dominated by ''

Pisonia ''Pisonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the four o'clock flower family, Nyctaginaceae. It was named for Dutch physician and naturalist Willem Piso (1611–1678). Certain species in this genus are known as catchbirdtrees, birdcatcher trees o ...

'' and ''Pisonia''/''

Xylosma ''Xylosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Salicaceae. It contains around 100 species of evergreen shrubs and trees commonly known as brushhollies, xylosmas, or, more ambiguously, " logwoods". The generic name is derived from the ...

'', and in ''

Timonius ''Timonius'' is a genus of plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is the second most specious genus in the family in Papua New Guinea, containing about 80 species known to science,Bryan, J.E., Shearman, P.L. (Eds.). 2015. The State of the Forests of ...

'' thicket, also occurring in ''

Pandanus ''Pandanus'' is a genus of monocots with some 750 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. The greatest number of species are found in Madagascar and Malaysia. Common names ...

''-''

Thespesia ''Thespesia'' is a genus of 13 flowering shrubs and trees in the ''Hibiscus'' family, Malvaceae, although within the family they are more closely related to cotton plants (''Gossypium''). The genus is distributed from the South Pacific through ...

''-''

Argusia ''Tournefortia'', commonly known as soldierbush, is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It was first published under the name ''Pittonia'' by Charles Plumier in 1703, in honour of Joseph Pitton de Tournefort. Later, ...

'' embayment forests and coconut groves on the beaches. It is omnivorous and appears to be an opportunistic feeder, taking advantage of seasonal increases in prey. It forages in the leaf-litter, gleaning items such as skink ''

Emoia cyanura ''Emoia cyanura'', the copper-tailed skink, is a species of skink. It is found in Borneo and South Pacific islands. Names It is known as kagisi in the Rennellese language of the Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country co ...

'' eggs from the undersides of fallen leaves, large nematodes, beetles, moths, spiders, dead caterpillars, land snails and small insects. The breeding season is long, extending from late July to mid February (double broods are not uncommon) and clutch-size is 2-3. Helpers may provide extraparental care such as defending eggs and chicks from crabs and rats. Based on a small sample, adult annual survival is at least 43%, and reproductive success is a minimum of 0.95 chicks surviving to one month old per pair, per annum. The population of the species was severely affected by a failed rodent eradication campaign on Henderson in 2011, but had returned to pre-eradication levels by 2015.

References

External links

Images of the Henderson Crake

Henderson crake The Henderson crake or red-eyed crake (''Zapornia atra'') is a species of flightless bird in the family Rallidae. It is endemic to Henderson Island in the southeast Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth' ...

Birds of Henderson Island Flightless birds

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Gruiformes-stub