Azure Gallinule
Porphyrio flavirostris
Small, pale chickenlike marsh bird with washed out gray-blue underparts that contrast with its olive brown back and crown. Note the thick yellow bill and frontal shield. Found in freshwater marshes with abundant floating vegetation where its appearances may be seasonal and erratic. Rarely seen swimming.
Identification
The azure gallinule is 23 to 26 cm (9.1 to 10 in) long. Males weigh 92 to 111 g (3.2 to 3.9 oz) and females 92 to 107 g (3.2 to 3.8 oz). It is the smallest member of its genus and has quite different plumage from the others. The sexes are alike. Adults have a pale greenish yellow bill and frontal shield and yellow legs and feet. They have a pale brownish olive crown, hindneck, and back. Their upperwing coverts are azure to greenish blue, their flight feathers gray-blue, and the uppertail coverts and tail brownish olive to black. Their face, sides of the neck, and breast are pale blue-gray and the rest of their underparts white. Immature birds have browner upperparts than adults with a buffy face, neck, and breast; their frontal shield is green and their legs and feet yellowish orange.
Taxonomy
The azure gallinule was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the coots in the genus Fulica and coined the binomial name Fulica flavirostris. Gmelin based his description on "La Favorite de Cayenne" that had been described and illustrated in 1781 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. The azure gallinule is now placed in the genus Porphyrio that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The genus name Porphyrio is the Latin word for "swamphen" (from the Ancient Greek πορφυριος/porphurios meaning "purple-clad"). The specific epithet flavirostris combines the Latin flavus meaning "yellow" and -rostris meaning "billed". <p>The azure gallinule is monotypic: No subspecies are recognized.
- Scientific name
- Porphyrio flavirostris
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Porphyrio
Range and habitat
The azure gallinule is found in Trinidad and Tobago; from Venezuela south through Colombia and Ecuador into northern Peru; from Venezuela east through the Guianas into Brazil; in Amazonian Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and far northern Argentina; and in eastern Brazil's states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. It has also occurred as a vagrant in Uruguay. It primarily inhabits freshwater marshes with fairly deep water and much marsh grass and other vegetation. It also occurs in rice paddies, wet savanna, the margins of swampy streams and rivers, and permanent and seasonal ponds. Though it often shares habitat with the purple gallinule (P. martinica) it prefers areas with shorter vegetation and no bushes. In elevation it typically is found below 500 m (1,600 ft) but has been recorded as high as 2,600 m (8,500 ft) in the Colombian Andes.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
White-sided Hillstar
Oreotrochilus leucopleurus
Small hummingbird of the Andes from southern Bolivia through Argentina into central Chile; found in rocky and shrubby valleys, villages, and any open or semiopen areas with flowers. Often builds nest under eaves of buildings or bridges: a bulky cup of plant material and wool to insulate against cold nights. Fairly common. Readily identified in most of range by extensively white tail. Male has an emerald green gorget and a broad blue-black stripe on belly. Female is rather drab, but note slightly decurved bill, spotted throat, and tail pattern.
Santa Marta Brushfinch
Atlapetes melanocephalus
A very distinctive brushfinch endemic to the Santa Marta Mountains of Colombia. It has a simple yet very attractive plumage pattern with a black head, white ear, yellow underparts, and gray back. Nothing similar occurs together with it. Common, bold, and easy to see, inhabiting cloud forest as well as clearings with just scattered trees. It’s often the first endemic encountered by birders visiting this isolated mountain range.
Volcano Hummingbird
Selasphorus flammula
Male throat varies from steely grayish-purple to bright magenta; note short straight bill and rufous in tail. Female similar to Scintillant Hummingbird but with dark central tail feathers. Small hummingbird that feeds on small flowers in gardens, second growth, and forest edges, mostly above 2000m.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.