Purple Gallinule

Purple Gallinule

The colorful Purple Gallinule prefers warm-water marshes and is mainly found in the south and around the Gulf, although it often wanders great didstances and has been seen much further north in summer.  It spends the winter in southern Florida and down into Argentina.  Its nest is a shallow cup of grass stems and reeds, lined with leaves and attached to marsh vegetation.  It lays 5-10 buff eggs, spotted with brown, and the downy chicks leave the nest soon after hatching.

The adult bird has long legs and very large, yellow feet - which allow it to walk across lily pads and floating marsh vegetation.  It has a bright, purplish-blue head, neck and underparts, white under the tail, a pale blue forehead shield, a red bill tipped with yellow and a brown-green back.  The juvenile is much plainer, buffy underneath with an olive back, greenish wings and dull olive legs and feet.  The Purple Gallinule can fly, but is reluctant to do so and also rarely swims.  It eats seeds, grain, insects, frogs and birds' eggs, as well as vegetation.

Excerpt from The Encyclopedia of North American Birds, by Michael Vanner