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Lord Howe Woodhens are medium-sized rails. Their plumage is mostly greyish-brown, except for the head and throat, which are grey. The irises are dark, the bill is grey, with a flesh-coloured base and lower mandible. The legs and feet are also greyish to flesh-coloured.

Twitcher's tip

Although outwardly not very similar, the Lord Howe Woodhen's closest relative on the Australian continent is the Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis).

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Lord Howe Woodhen is available HERE .

As its name suggests, the Lord Howe Woodhen is endemic to Lord Howe Island, which is located about 600 km East of the Australian East coast, at the same geographic latitude (of -31.5 degrees) as Port Macquarie, NSW. As of 2015, there are about 250 Lord Howe Woodhens in total (up from just 15 birds in 1980). They are flightless and therefore vulnerable to predation and habitat destruction (by feral pigs).

Lord Howe Woodhens have a preference for leaf litter under dense forest.

C. Kellenberg reports spotting a Lord Howe Woodhen on Lord Howe Island in July 2010.

B. Hensen found Lord Howe Woodhens on Lord Howe Island in November 2014.