Purple Swamphen | Miles To The Wild

The purple swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) is a “swamp hen” in the rail family Rallidae. Also known locally as the pūkeko, African purple swamphen, purple moorhen, purple gallinule or purple coot. From its French name talève sultane, it is also known as the sultana bird.

This chicken-sized bird, with its large feet, bright plumage and red bill and frontal shield is easily-recognisable in its native range. Quite a large range too! I’ve seen them in India as well as the ones above in Yanchep, Western Australia. I’ve also seen them “Takehe” in New Zealand. You don’t need to plan a birding trip around them, you are pretty much bound to see them anywhere in their range.

LEARN MORE ABOUT PURPLE SWAMPHENS

Wikipedia – (List of Subspecies)

Birdlife

Birds in Backyards

Aussie Birdlife

VIDEOS

Here’s one from Australia.

And another one from India.

In my last post, I talked about Yanchep as a destination. The nice thing about Yanchep is you can be as active or as lazy as you want and you will STILL see lots of birds! I’m in the lazy camp. I did do one hike around the small lake opposite Yanchep Inn but mostly I just kicked back at a picnic table or my room’s porch. Eremaea has a good bird list to give you an idea what to expect. Here’s some of the birds I saw.

Lots of Waterbirds