I would suggest that Lewin Rail is in fact a fairly common species throughout
much of its range in Eastern Australia. I would even go as far as to suggest
they are more common than Swamphens. Certainly in Sydney and Brisbane they
can be found in many localities if you try hard enough.
One of the tricks to locate them is to find significant stands of introduced
'Lantana' and play a tape and not always at low altitude and not always in
swampy areas. I recall finding them at 5 locations between Mt Glorious and Mt
Nebo in SE Queensland in 1988 and likewise the best place to see them around
Sydney besides the usual swamps is around the Lantana slopes behind Wollongong
or in Royal NP. I heard one calling a few months ago at the Powerful Owl site
near Epping for those that know the locality. Strickland State Forest
Ourimbah is another good spot. ie. anywhere that has a rainforest with
Lantana. Even the lantana around Taronga zoo is a good.
Having said that though, all would have to agree that filling in the swamps
and drains has a disastrous affect on the local populations of Crake Sp.
Regards
Tony Palliser
http://www.zip.com.au/~palliser
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