Talk:Pukeko (Porphyrio melanotus)

Should we keep this article?
I created it because ... as a New Zealander, I looked up pukeko and got overloaded with info about purple swamphens from other countries - what's that I asked - where's the pukeko - what's a purple swamphen anyway? This site is to remind ordinary New Zealanders that the pukeko has a place on wikipedia. Seperate pages are set for different species (eg the forty or so under the title 'fantail') so why not a sub species of swamp hen? The forty or so fantail species seem to average only about 5 lines on each type of bird. This article is supposed to move people on to the purple swamphen species, (which should be a bigger better article than this one), gradually instead of in one big leap into purple istead of pukeko. I have avoided talking about the facts concerning purple swamphens in general (habitat, mating, nesting habits, size and shape etc) leaving that for a sub heading in the swamphen article (which I will work on if no one else does). Here, I have tried to focus on what is unique about the New Zealand sub species with common name pukeko Nore: many who know this name have never heard of swamphens). I agree, a full description of the sub species of purple swamphen should at this stage be on the purple swamp hen site, especially the scientific facts. I suggest (and agree)people with a deeper (scientific) interest in the bird as a subspecies must go to the species 'purple swamphen site' which this site promotes (I hope). This site would be better to look at the pukeko as part of New Zealand culture and not duplicate info found under on the purple swamphen article. Carpenter0 (talk) 01:58, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
 * ResponseI understand and admire your interest and agree that it is annoying for Kiwis that the main article lives in a differnet name to the one used in New Zealand (I live in Wellington and refer to them as Pukekos too), but there are several reasons why this should be moved back into the main article. Firstly the Pukeko, as a recent arrival in New Zealand, is not a subspecies all on its own; it is the same subspecies as the Australian race. Your point about fantails; well, ther are articles about each of the fantail species, but not generally an article for each of the species' subspecies. We don't actually ban articles on subspecies, there are a few around, but the article would have to cover the whole subspecies, not just one population of it. The fact is that the bilogy of the Pukeko is identical to that of the rest of the species; the only thing that needs to be added is the role in Maori and European culture and society and that can be covered in the main article. Sabine's Sunbird  talk  00:42, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

The article now covers the sub-species as it exists beyond the shores of New Zealand. New Zealanders seem to take a much greater interest in it than Australians (very liitle info available on the bird as it exists in Australia - perhaps they have too many colourful birds there and we (in NZ) don't have enough). The aboriginee name seems unpronuouncable and I have not included it at this stage but I will probably include it later (still reseaching). There is now a tiny link to this page at the very bottom of the purple swamphen article (under my pic of a pukeko), however there is a larger link at the top of this article to 'purple swamphen' - I hope that allows people to read the whole purple swamphen article before looking into more detail about the pukeko. Very little info is duplicated. There is so much to say about the pukeko - I wish there were seperate articles on the other sub-species like this one!! Carpenter0 (talk) 04:21, 22 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Whatever. I still feel this should be merged but I cannot be bothered arguing anymore. I suggest you do the following things to bring the article up to standard.
 * You need a taxobox. WikiProject Birds will show you how to make one for this subspecies. Make it clear that it is a subspecies.
 * Please break it up into sections using the appropriate wiki formatting. MOSHEAD will show you how to do this.
 * Links - there aren't enough.
 * In support of the belief that it is a good flyer, and may have self introduced, there was a dead pukeko found on L'Esperance Rock, a tiny, isolated rock in the Kermadec group, more than 200 km from the nearest established population (Tennyson & Taylor 1989). This demonstrates the ability of pukeko to fly great distances over the sea[7]. All continental rails are good fliers and dispersers, that is why there are so many species on islands.
 * References - please use a standardized method of referencing. see WP:CITE for help. Sabine's Sunbird  talk  22:35, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks - will work on the above soonCarpenter0 (talk) 21:06, 5 March 2008 (UTC) Have put in taxo box - have out more links in - am now looking at the referencing system and it seems that the system used in purple swamp hen is different to my numbered system. The numbered system is used on the Kea, Kakapo, Australasian Bittern, Baillon's Crake and probably many others however the system used in purple swamphen does seem to be the dominant system so I will look at changing it sometime. Carpenter0 (talk) 00:35, 9 March 2008 (UTC) Heading and sub heading added, article now taking shape and can be gradually improved as I gather more info over time. Carpenter0 (talk) 21:05, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * As an Australian, I looked up the local sub-species of Purple Swamp Hen and got overloaded with info about "Pukeko" from New Zealand. I have proposed a merge with Purple Swamphen. Noodle snacks (talk) 07:08, 14 July 2009 (UTC)