Morepork Morepork The morepork ("Ninox novaeseelandiae"), also called the ruru or Tasmanian spotted owl, is a small brown owl found throughout New Zealand and Tasmania. Described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it was for many years considered to be the same species as the southern boobook of mainland Australia until 1999. Its name is derived from its two-tone call. Four subspecies of the morepork are recognized, one of which is extinct and another that exists only as a hybrid population. The bird has almost 20 alternative common names, including mopoke and boobook — many of these names are onomatopoeic, as
Australasian swamphen Australasian swamphen The Australasian swamphen ("Porphyrio melanotus") is a species of swamphen occurring in eastern Indonesia, the Moluccas, Aru and Kai Islands, as well as in Papua New Guinea and Australia. It is also found in New Zealand, where it is known as the pukeko, a term derived from the Māori language. The Australasian swamphen used to be considered a subspecies of the purple swamphen. The Australasian swamphen is found in mainland Australia, eastern Indonesia, the Moluccas, Aru and Kai Islands, and in Papua New Guinea. They are also found on New Zealand's main islands and in the Chatham and