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Purple Gallinule

Porphyrio martinicaOrder: GRUIFORMESFamily: Rails and Coots (Rallidae)

Purple Gallinule Portrait
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General

Purple Gallinule: Medium-sized, chicken-like marsh bird with purple-blue upperparts washed with iridescent green, and deep blue underparts. Forehead is pale blue; bill is red and yellow-tipped. Undertail coverts are solid white. Legs are yellow with very long toes. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has scaled olive-brown upperparts, pale brown underparts, and dark bill. Pumps head when swimming.

Range and Habitat

Purple Gallinule: Found in the south Atlantic and Gulf states, and casually as far northward as Maine, New York, Wisconsin, and south throughout the West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America to Brazil. Preferred habitats include lakes, pools, waterways, and wet marshes.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kek, kek, kek", "keee, keee, keee"

Interesting Facts

 The Purple Gallinule, despite appearing to be an awkward flier, regularly turns up in northern states and southen Canada. It has even been found numerous times in Europe and South Africa.

 They often use their feet to hold food while they are eating.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Purple Gallinule
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Rail (Rallidae)_blue
Species Porphyrio martinica
Length10.5 Inches
Wingspan21 Inches

Purple Gallinule

Purple Gallinule: Medium, chicken-like marsh bird with purple-blue upperparts washed with iridescent green, deep blue underparts. Forehead is pale blue; bill is red and yellow-tipped. Undertail coverts are white. Legs are yellow with very long toes. The flight is labored and slow with dangling legs.

● Song: "kek, kek, kek", "keee, keee, keee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Purple Gallinule: Diet consists of invertebrates, frogs, aquatic vegetation, seeds, and berries; forages while walking along the shoreline, wading, and swimming.

● Breeding & nesting: Purple Gallinule: Five to ten pink or buff eggs marked with brown are laid in a nest made of dead stems and leaves, and built low above the water among dense rushes. Incubation ranges from 22 to 25 days.

● Similar species: Purple Gallinule: Common Moorhen has white flank stripes and lacks pale blue forehead shield.

Flight Pattern

Swift strong direct flight.
Purple Gallinule Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Purple Gallinule: Found in the south Atlantic and Gulf states, and casually as far northward as Maine, New York, Wisconsin, and south throughout the West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America to Brazil. Preferred habitats include lakes, pools, waterways, and wet marshes.
BreedingMonogamous
PopulationCasual
MigrationMigratory
Weight9.1 Ounces