Howdy, friends.  I hope everyone is doing well and finding time to unplug a bit.  My recent project to watch, listen to and read new things hit a bit of a snag when I decided to play some Warcraft II, a game I devoted a lot of time to in high school and haven’t played since.  In revisiting a game I haven’t played in over 20 years I’ve either reached some kind of self-care nirvana or I’m entirely losing it.  Time will tell. 

Anyway, our bird this week is the American purple gallinule.  This bird is a member of the rail family.  I remember this family name because a past header was about the “Inaccessible Island rail,” a fluffy little bird that lives on the very literally named Inaccessible Island.  Rails are very widespread, and often aquatic or semiaquatic.  This week’s subject lives along the coasts of Mexico, on the islands of the Caribbean, and south into Central and much of South America.  It lives seasonally, and breeds, in the American southeast, and is a year-round resident throughout the rest of its range. It is the most notable “vagrant” among rails, having been spotted in California, the Galapagos, Labrador, Tiera del Fuego, Switzerland and South Africa.  However, it isn’t just wanderlust driving our new purple friend, there is some evidence that the birds have gone so far in search of suitable environments to live, as wetlands they inhabit disappear to human development and/or drought.

The American purple gallinule prefers freshwater marshes with dense vegetation, where it will eat just about anything it can find.  It eats a variety of plants, seeds and fruit, as well as insects, larvae, frogs, snails and fish.  They will also eat the eggs and young of other birds.  The gallinule has broad, anisodactyl toes.  That means it has three toes in front and one in back.  This arrangement allows it to grip the stalks of plants as it walks, and its large, broad feet spread its weight around so it can walk on plants floating on the surface of the water.  

This bird’s courtship display, which consists of various struts and wing motions, is performed by both partners at the same time, which I thought was kinda neat.  A couple will separate and then walk closer to each other to indicate interest, at which point they will both initiate the display.  I like the idea of just coming up to another bird and just saying  “‘wanna dance?” as opposed to building a barrow or collecting shiny things.  The nest is built on floating vegetation along the bank of the body of water.  Both parents will defend the nest, and previous generations of young will stick around the nest and care for new generations, which is rare for rails but not uncommon among birds we have covered.  The chicks are “subprecocial,” which I believe is a new idea to this series of headers.  This means they can walk soon after hatching but cannot feed themselves for several weeks.  Unlike the adults striking plumage, juveniles are more of a bronze color with brown legs and feet.  Their striking yellow legs and iridescent plumage comes in as they grow to adulthood.  The American purple gallinule is rated as “of least concern” by the IUCN, because although its population is dropping, it remains quite large and the bird has an extensive range. Have a good weekend, everyone. Be kind to yourselves and others.

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