Rails are a large, cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized terrestrial and/or semi-amphibious birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity in its forms, and includes such ubiquitous species as the crakes, coots, and gallinule; other rail species are extremely rare or endangered. Many are associated with wetland habitats, some being semi-aquatic like waterfowl, but many more are wading birds or shorebirds. The ideal rail habitats are marsh areas, including rice paddies, and flooded fields or open forest. They are especially fond of dense vegetation for nesting. The rail family is found in every terrestrial habitat with the exception of dry desert, polar or freezing regions, and alpine areas. Members of Rallidae occur on every continent except Antarctica. Numerous unique island species are known.
The Inaccessible Island rail is a small bird of the rail family, Rallidae. Endemic to Inaccessible Island in the Tristan Archipelago in the isolated south Atlantic, it is the smallest extant flightless bird in the world. The species was described by physician Percy Lowe in 1923 but had first come to the attention of scientists 50 years earlier. The Inaccessible Island rail's affinities and origin were a long-standing mystery; in 2018 its closest relative was identified as the South American dot-winged crake, and it was decided that both species are best classified in the genus Laterallus.
The Laysan duck, also known as the Laysan teal, is a dabbling duck endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Fossil evidence reveals that Laysan ducks once lived across the entire archipelago, but today survive only on Laysan Island and two atolls. The duck has several physical and behavioral traits linked to the absence of ground-based predators in its habitat. By 1860, the ducks had disappeared from everywhere except Laysan Island. The introduction of European rabbits by guano miners at the end of the 19th century brought the bird to the brink of extinction in 1912, with twelve surviving individuals. Rabbits were eradicated from the island in 1923 and numbers of Laysan ducks began to rise, reaching 500 by the 1950s. In an effort to ensure the long-term future of this duck, 42 birds were translocated to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 2002. These thrived in their new surroundings, and another group were later relocated to Kure Atoll.
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands or Leeward Hawaiian Islands are a series of islands and atolls in the Hawaiian island chain located northwest of the islands of Kauai and Niʻihau. Politically, they are all part of Honolulu County in the U.S. state of Hawaii, except Midway Atoll, which is a territory distinct from the State of Hawaii, and grouped as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The United States Census Bureau defines this area, except Midway, as Census Tract 114.98 of Honolulu County. Its total land area is 3.1075 square miles (8.048 km2). All the islands except Nihoa are north of the Tropic of Cancer, making them the only islands in Hawaii that lie outside the tropics.
Laysan is one of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, located 808 nautical miles northwest of Honolulu. It comprises one land mass of 1,016 acres (4.11 km2), about 1 by 1+1⁄2 miles in size. It is an atoll of sorts, although the land completely surrounds a shallow central lake some 2.4 m (7.9 ft) above sea level that has a salinity approximately three times greater than the ocean. Laysan's Hawaiian name, Kauō, means 'egg'.
The Laysan finch is a species of Hawaiian honeycreeper, that is endemic to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It is one of four remaining finch-billed Hawaiian honeycreepers and is closely related to the smaller Nihoa finch. The Laysan finch is named for Laysan, the island to which it was endemic on its discovery. It was subsequently introduced to a few other atolls, and its historical range included some of the main islands.
The black noddy, also known as white-capped noddy, is a species of tern in the family Laridae. It is a medium-sized seabird with black plumage and a white cap that closely resembles the lesser noddy with which it was at one time considered conspecific. The black noddy has slightly darker plumage and dark rather than pale lores.
The Laysan albatross is a large seabird that ranges across the North Pacific. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are home to 99.7% of the population. This small gull-like albatross is the second-most common seabird in the Hawaiian Islands, with an estimated population of 1.18 million birds, and is currently expanding its range to new islands. The Laysan albatross was first described as Diomedea immutabilis by Lionel Walter Rothschild, in 1893, on the basis of a specimen from Laysan Island.
The Laysan millerbird was a subspecies of the millerbird, similar in appearance to the remaining subspecies, the Nihoa millerbird. Its dorsal side was brown, and its belly was grayish. Its name derives from its favorite food, several species of moths of the genus Agrotis commonly referred to as "millers".
The Hawaiian rail, Hawaiian spotted rail, or Hawaiian crake is an extinct species of diminutive rail that lived on Big Island of Hawaiʻi.
The Bonin petrel or nunulu is a seabird in the family Procellariidae. It is a small gadfly petrel that is found in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its secretive habits, remote breeding colonies and limited range have resulted in few studies and many aspects of the species' biology are poorly known.
Porzana is a genus of birds in the crake and rail family, Rallidae. Its scientific name is derived from Venetian terms for small rails. The spotted crake is the type species.
The black crake is a waterbird in the rail and crake family, Rallidae. It breeds in most of sub-Saharan Africa except in very arid areas. It undertakes some seasonal movements in those parts of its range which are subject to drought. No subspecies have been described. It appears that the oldest available name for this species is actually Rallus niger J. F. Gmelin, 1788, but Swainson believed that the earlier name was unidentifiable, and his own has since become well embedded in the literature.
The spotless crake is a species of bird in the rail family, Rallidae. It is widely distributed species occurring from the Philippines, New Guinea and Australia, across the southern Pacific Ocean to the Marquesas Islands and south to New Zealand.
The Laysan honeycreeper, Laysan honeyeater, or Laysan ʻapapane is an extinct species of finch that was endemic to the island of Laysan in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
The Great Oʻahu crake or Great Oʻahu rail is an extinct bird species that was endemic to the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi. It was one of two flightless rails that had survived on the island until the arrival of people in 200 C.E.
Eragrostis variabilis is a species of grass known by the common names variable lovegrass, kawelu, emoloa, and kalamalo. It is endemic to Hawaii, where it occurs on all the main islands plus Kure Atoll, Midway Atoll, Pearl and Hermes Atoll, Lisianski Island, Laysan, and Nihoa.
Zapornia is a genus of birds in the rail family Rallidae.
The Northwestern Hawaii scrub is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
