# Purple Gallinule

*Porphyrio martinica*

Their exceptionally long, slender toes act like snowshoes, distributing their weight so they can walk across floating lily pads without sinking.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Gruiformes › Rallidae › Porphyrio
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** wetland
- **Habitat:** Freshwater marshes with dense floating vegetation, margins of lakes, and rice fields.
- **Diet:** Omnivorous: consumes aquatic plant seeds, fruits, insects, snails, frogs, and occasionally the eggs of other water birds.
- **Range:** Southeastern United States, Central America, Caribbean Islands, South America
- **Size:** Length: 26-37 cm; Wingspan: 50-61 cm; Weight: 200-300g
- **Lifespan:** 10-15 years
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Wetland drainage, pesticide runoff, and invasive plant species that alter the structure of floating vegetation mats.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless and shy. Maintain a respectful distance of at least 20 feet to avoid flushing the bird from its cover. Observe quietly; they are not aggressive toward humans and pose no physical threat.

## About

This article is on the New-World purple gallinule (Porphyrio martinicus), not the Old-World purple gallinule, which is the western swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio).

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/ddebf80c-b4fe-4c80-8de5-f407a0a994ba
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/519
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyrio martinica
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/13642188/medium.jpg (Judy Gallagher, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.