gallinule

These two purple gallinules faced each other from about 15 feet away, necks and heads up, and walked towards each other slowly until they were face to face...the female on the left then lowered her neck and head almost to the ground, while the male stayed upright...and finally the female turned...

Another bird found mostly in the Southeast U.S., and into South America - smaller and a bit more colorful than the grey-headed and purple swamphens, they can be easily distinguished by their light blue forehead patch, the yellow tip at the end of the bill, and the bright yellow legs.

Spot-flanked Gallinule (Gallinula melanops melanops)

Common Gallinule (Gallinule galeata galeata) At the edge of floating and emergent vegetation. The floating vegetation is Mosquito Fern also called Water Fern (Azolla filiculoides: Salviniaceae), Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes: Araceae) with the emergent vegetation being Water Primrose...

Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata cachinnans)

Rare sighting on mainland Spain - still here as of 22/1/19

Common Gallinule (Gallinule galeata subsp. cachinnans)

Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) Yet another Purple Gallinule but I just cant stop photographing them (lol).

Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata subsp. cachinnans)

Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica)

Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) Fledgeling.

Purple Gallinule (juvenile)

The baby Common Gallinules will have some growing to do before the get caught up with the size of those feet.

Sorry I have not been around, this silly work thing has really taken a bit out of my "fun" birding. I did get to spend most of one morning in the Estuary at San Jose Del Cabo last weekend. The Gallinules were out and about. A few had their babies out exploring!

Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline at about 13m. Male pestering a female for amore. He did finally get what he was after later in the morning. ;)

Taken at the Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area (Lake Boris). I really enjoy the striking color contrasts on this coot relative.

Taken at the Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area (Lake Boris). Don't know what it is about local Rallidaes, but like the American Coots, I find the Common Gallinules fascinating to look at.

Taken at the Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area (Lake Boris) at about 20m. Spring is in the air for these two, though I'm guessing she didn't appreciate being forcibly dunked!

Taken at the Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area (Lake Boris) at about 13m. We watched a pair of these rails/moorhens follow each other around, make food offerings, and eventually mate. Caught this one "afterwards" swimming alone.

Taken at the Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area (Lake Boris) at about 30m. Another photo of this coot relative.

Taken at the Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area (Lake Boris) at about 16m. These were interesting looking birds, had no idea what they were. As it turns out they are relatives of coots, which we also find interesting. :) This one was busy building a nest it seems and we watched it cross...

Gallinule at Montezuma Wildlife Refuge, near Syracuse New York. Aperture 6.5, ISO 400, Shutter Speed 1/160

Also known locally as the pūkeko, purple swamphen, purple moorhen, purple gallinule or purple coot.

Digiscope Image - Lake county Florida - Kowa TSN 884, 25-60X eyepiece, Lumix DMC GX7 camera with 20mm f/1.7 ll ASPH lens