Crops & Clips: Purple Gallinule

The Purple Gallinule is a Florida favorite. It was one of those species in my bird book whose picture looked so exotic and which, as a kid in New Jersey, I hoped one day to see. It took a while, but I finally set eyes on one in Avery Island, Louisiana, in 1967. Here in south Florida it is easy to find them in the right places, especially the settling ponds at water treatment plants such as Green Cay Wetlands in Boynton Beach:


 
This is the nature center and beginning of the boardwalk at Green Cay:



Peaceful Waters Park in Wellington is another such location. Here a Purple Gallinule shows off its long toes which allow it to walk across the floating vegetation:







The juvenile can be rather drab. This one was at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Palm Beach County:



The first time I saw this species in our neighborhood Wounded Wetlands was in January, 2015, when a pair showed up. I hoped the pair would breed, but they disappeared after only a week or so:



One year later, also in January, a single adult Purple Gallinule appeared in the same location. Try as I did, I could not find a second bird. It remained into March:





This December I saw a juvenile gallinule in the same local wetlands patch. The light was bad and it was rather secretive, so at first I was not sure of its identity. I patiently waited for it to come out into the open. It was eating the flowers and seed of Alligator Flag:



Alligator Flag must have its roots in water most of the time, so it is found on the edges of marshes and other persistent bodies of water. In the Everglades, this plant often signals the presence of an alligator hole.



The tiny flowers of Alligator Flag rise high above on slender stems and the only way the bird can get up to them is to gather several stalks in each of its huge feet and take advantage of the construction principle of triangulation (the use of triangular shapes to give stability to structures such as buildings and towers-- the Eiffel Tower is a good example). In good light, the beauty of this immature Purple Gallinule is revealed. I love this striking pose:



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