From Opus

Photo by Neil
Location: Sydney, Australia

Alternative names: Purple Gallinule¹; Purple Moorhen

Porphyrio porphyrio

Includes African Purple Swamphen

Identification

Birds found in Europe are overall purple-blue, African and south Asian birds have a green back, and Australasian and Indonesian birds have black backs and heads. The Philippines subspecies is pale blue with a brown back. It has large feet, bright plumage, a red bill and frontal shield.

Distribution

Locally in Africa, southern Eurasia, Australasia and southwestern Oceania

Taxonomy

Subspecies²

• P. p. porphyrio - Iberian Peninsula and nw Africa
• P. p. madagascariensis - "African Purple Swamphen"; Egypt, Africa south of the Sahara and Madagascar
• P. p. caspius - Caspian Sea to nw Iran and Turkey
• P. p. seistanicus - Iraq and s Iran to Afghanistan, Pakistan and nw India
• P. p. poliocephalus - India to Sri Lanka, s China, n Thailand, Andaman, Nicobar Is.
• P. p. viridis - S Myanmar to s Thailand, s China, Malay Pen. and Indochina
• P. p. indicus - Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo and Sulawesi
• P. p. pulverulentus - Karekelong I. (Talaud Islands) and Philippine Islands
• P. p. pelewensis - Palau Islands (Koror and Anguar)
• P. p. melanopterus - Moluccas and Lesser Sundas to Aru Islands and New Guinea
• P. p. bellus - Extreme sw Australia
• P. p. melanotus - N and e Australia, Tasmania to New Zealand, Kermadec and Chatham Is.
• P. p. samoensis - Admiralty Is. to Samoa, New Caledonia, Solomon Is. and Fiji

Polyphyly and Paraphyly^3,4

The Purple Swamphen is found to be paraphyletic with respect to P. mantelli Takahe. To retain monophyly, a six-way split has been proposed with groupings: porphyrio, madagascariensis, poliocephalus, indicus, pulverulentis, and melanotus.

Habitat

Reed beds and wet areas with high rainfall, swamps, lake edges and damp pastures.

Behaviour

The birds make a nest of woven reeds on floating debris or amongst reeds. More than one female will use the nest and they share incubating the eggs for 24 days. Each bird lays 3-6 speckled eggs and the nest can contain up to 12 eggs.

The birds live in pairs and larger communities.

Diet includes tender shoots and vegetable-like matter, invertebrates (like snails), small fish, and eggs from nests and also eat ducklings. It is a good swimmer, especially for a bird without webbed feet.

References

1. Not to be confused with Purple Gallinule, Porphyrio martinica.
2. Clements, James F. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2008. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801445019
3. Trewick, S.A. 1997. "Flightlessness and phylogeny amongst endemic rails (Aves: Rallidae) of the New Zealand region." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. (352) 429-46.
4. Sangster, G. 1998. "Purple Swamp-hen is a complex of species." Dutch Birding (20) 13-22.

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