The Purple Swamphen or Purple Gallinule was a reintroduced species in Mallorca back in the early nineties. It has obviously been very successful as there are now many to be seen at the S'Albufera marsh reserve, where the reintroduction took place. I believe that they have also naturally spread to the nearby island of Menorca.
An entertaining bird to photograph, they would sneak out from the reedbed into the open water, slowly gaining speed until eventually they were running, it was as if they thought they were being followed. Their large feet aren't really ideal for speed, so some amusing shots were to be had.
3 comments:
those are great! we actually had one spotted here on our pond in Texas once. they're not known for their flying, so i wonder where he came from...
Steve, great shots. What odd birds! They certainly do have a set of feet!
That's a stunning bird -- really great shots of it!
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