Purple Gallinule better known as ‘Swamp Hen’
The American purple gallinule belongs to the rail family of birds and is often referred to as the “swamp hen.”
It is normally found among marshes and, when flying, they communicate using a hen-like cackling sound. It grows to between 11 and 13 inches with a wingspan near 21 inches and weighs up to 10 ounces.
The purple gallinule breeds and resides throughout the South. It prefers to live in freshwater marshes that have lily pads and pickerelweed as vegetation and though rarely seen north of the Mississippi-Tennessee border, some stragglers have been sighted as far north as Massachusetts.
A beautifully colored bird, the purple gallinule can be seen walking on top of floating vegetation or clambering through dense shrubs. A fairly large, duck-like bird, it’s extremely long toes enable this bird to walk across lily pads with ease.
Adult purple gallinules have many beautiful colors about its body. Its head, neck, breast and underside are a dark purple. The back and upper wings are green and its legs and feet are yellow. With a light blue forehead, the purple gallinule has a triangular, red bill tipped with yellow.
The purple gallinule is omnivorous and eats a wide variety of foods. They can be found feasting on seeds, grains, flowers and some fruits but they also enjoy small invertebrates such as grasshoppers, spiders and dragonflies.
Purple gallinules make their nests among freshwater marshes with dense stands of floating vegetation. The nests are constructed from leaves and tree stems, and are built in a thicket, sawgrass or on a tussock that floats on the water.
The female purple gallinule lays 6 to 10 eggs at a time. Both parents participate in the incubation of the eggs and feeding chicks. Incubation lasts approximately 18 days. Purple gallinules perform a “changing of the guard” ceremony while they are nesting. One partner will bring the incubating partner a leaf. The bird on the nest takes the leaf and adds it to the nest before turning over the incubating duties to the other parent.
The eggs of the purple gallinule are creamy white with small, irregular brown spots. Both parents feed the chicks for the first week and the chicks are able to feed themselves the second week. At 3 weeks of age, they are completely independent for food. As it grows, the juvenile purple gallinule is actually tan instead of purple with a greenish back, dull bill, dull blue frontal shield and yellow legs. The juveniles do not reach their full adult coloration until around 2 years of age.
Turtles and alligators prey upon these birds. The purple gallinule population’s most urgent threat seems to be wetland loss.
James L. Cummins is executive director of Wildlife Mississippi, a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plant resources throughout Mississippi. Their web site is www.wildlifemiss.org.