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Australian Wildlife

  Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio)





Purple Swamphen | Porphyrio porphyrio photo
Purple Swamphen at Currumbin Sanctuary, Gold Coast, Australia.

Image by ozwildlife - Some rights reserved.

Purple Swamphen | Porphyrio porphyrio photo
Swamphen at Currumbin Sanctuary, Gold Coast, Australia.

Image by ozwildlife - Some rights reserved.







PURPLE SWAMPHEN FACTS

Description
The Purple Swamphen is a large rail. It is mainly dusky black above, and dark blue to purple around neck and underneath.

Size
46cm

Habitat
freshwater swamps, streams and marshes.

Food
shoots of reeds and rushes, frogs, snails

Breeding
The nest is a platform of reeds surrounded by vegetation.

Range
eastern and northern Australia

distribution map showing range of Porphyrio porphyrio in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Gruiformes
Family:Rallidae
Genus:Porphyrio
Species:porphyrio
Common Name:Purple Swamphen