Purple Gallinule
[order] Gruiformes | [family] Rallidae | [latin] Porphyrio martinica | [IT] Pollo sultano della Martinica | [UK] Purple Gallinule | [FR] Taleve violacee | [DE] Zwergsultanshuhn | [ES] Calamoncillo Americano | [NL] Amerikaans Purperhoen | [SU]Blawkepanki
Monotypic species
Physical charateristics
Purple Gallinule adult is a medium-sized bird, with stunning purple-blue plumage. Upperparts are glossy green, with upper wings glossy turquoise-blue. Underparts are glossy bluish-violet. White undertail coverts are triangle-shaped and conspicuous in all ages. Vent and thighs are blackish.
Head is purplish-blue, with pale blue forehead shield. Bill is red with yellow tip. Eyes are red. Legs and huge feet are orange-yellow.
Both sexes are similar. Juvenile is different. It has buff face, neck sides, breast and flanks. Throat and belly are whitish. Crown, hind neck and upperparts are brown, with olive green sheen on body, and greenish turquoise sheen on upper wings. It will reach its adult plumage through first winter, and full adult eye colour, face and neck coloration at about two years. It has brownish eyes. Its bill is duller than adults. Shield is smaller and greyer. Legs and feet are olive-yellow.
Chicks are buffy brown, with brown olive back and greenish wings. Bill is dark olive. Legs and feet are dull olive.
Head is purplish-blue, with pale blue forehead shield. Bill is red with yellow tip. Eyes are red. Legs and huge feet are orange-yellow.
Both sexes are similar. Juvenile is different. It has buff face, neck sides, breast and flanks. Throat and belly are whitish. Crown, hind neck and upperparts are brown, with olive green sheen on body, and greenish turquoise sheen on upper wings. It will reach its adult plumage through first winter, and full adult eye colour, face and neck coloration at about two years. It has brownish eyes. Its bill is duller than adults. Shield is smaller and greyer. Legs and feet are olive-yellow.
Chicks are buffy brown, with brown olive back and greenish wings. Bill is dark olive. Legs and feet are dull olive.
Listen to the sound of Purple Gallinule
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Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto
| wingspan min.: | 53 | cm | wingspan max.: | 55 | cm |
| size min.: | 36 | cm | size max.: | 37 | cm |
| incubation min.: | 18 | days | incubation max.: | 20 | days |
| fledging min.: | 19 | days | fledging max.: | 21 | days |
| broods: | 1 | eggs min.: | 2 | ||
| eggs max.: | 6 |
Range
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. In Suriname this species is numerous and in some districts even consiedered a pest. Numbers are declining.
Habitat
Marshes and borders of ponds, lakes, lagoons, and rivers where floating and tall dense waterside vegetation grows; rice fields; usually avoids open water but may use low perch near water. Nests on ground in tall marsh herbage, among plants growing in water, or on branches of shrubs at water level.
Reproduction
Purple Gallinule breeds in May-August period in North America, but in South America, it may extend from March to November.
Birds are monogamous. During breeding season, the species is highly territorial. They breed in marshy areas, but also in rice fields.
Purple Gallinule’s nest is a floating structure. It is a bulky cup-shaped nest in marshy vegetation. Nest is built by both adults, with available floating plants, such as water hyacinth, cattails or wild rice. It may sizes up to 28 cm in width, and about 9 cm in depth. A kind of roof is built for protection, and also a ramp leading to the nest.
Female lays 2 to 6 creamy to pale buff eggs, flecked with rusty brown and grey. Incubation lasts about 18 to 20 days, shared by both adults. Chicks are fed by both parents during one week, and are able to feed themselves after these seven days.
They are completely independent for food at 21 days old. They are able to fly when they are 5 to 7 weeks old. Young use tiny claws on their wing tips to crawl on bushes and out of the nest.
Birds are monogamous. During breeding season, the species is highly territorial. They breed in marshy areas, but also in rice fields.
Purple Gallinule’s nest is a floating structure. It is a bulky cup-shaped nest in marshy vegetation. Nest is built by both adults, with available floating plants, such as water hyacinth, cattails or wild rice. It may sizes up to 28 cm in width, and about 9 cm in depth. A kind of roof is built for protection, and also a ramp leading to the nest.
Female lays 2 to 6 creamy to pale buff eggs, flecked with rusty brown and grey. Incubation lasts about 18 to 20 days, shared by both adults. Chicks are fed by both parents during one week, and are able to feed themselves after these seven days.
They are completely independent for food at 21 days old. They are able to fly when they are 5 to 7 weeks old. Young use tiny claws on their wing tips to crawl on bushes and out of the nest.
Feeding habits
Purple Gallinule is omnivorous. It feeds on wide variety of vegetable and animal matters.
It feeds on seeds, leafs and fruits, but it also consumes insects (grasshoppers, beetles, water bugs, bees and wasps), frogs, snails, spiders, earthworms and fish. It may eat the eggs and nestlings of herons and jacanas.
It feeds on seeds, leafs and fruits, but it also consumes insects (grasshoppers, beetles, water bugs, bees and wasps), frogs, snails, spiders, earthworms and fish. It may eat the eggs and nestlings of herons and jacanas.
Video Purple Gallinule
copyright: Pieter de Groot Boersma
Conservation
This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 5,300,000 km2. The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population size criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., less than 10,000 mature individuals in conjunction with appropriate decline rates and subpopulation qualifiers), even though the species is described as ‘uncommon’ in at least parts of its range (Stotz et al. 1996). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Migration
It is highly migratory, and it winters from southern Florida to Argentina. South American birds are not usually migratory.
Distribution map
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