Marsh crakes are a member of the rail family, and are mostly found in the South Island. However, they are a tiny, very cryptic bird, and not easily found and photographed. A birding colleague kindly showed me a spot in the city bounds where a pair of these hard-to-find birds resided. I made four visits, and sighted birds on three of the visits. Seeing them again I was reminded as to how tiny they are, sparrow-sized, and how hard they can be to see in the raupo. Beside a pukeko they sure look miniature. These encounters added greatly to my time in Otago.
