I'm not giving any clues away!
So it's just the photo.
It's not a Turkey!
Regards Buzzard
Nature Is Amazing - Let Us Keep It That Way
Hi Buzzard
He looks like a strange bird from an alien planet
Is he a prehistoric relation to a Moorhen, or in the same family of species
Regards
Kathy and Dave
Its certainly a rum-looking job - a moorhen on steroids. Could it be a purple gallinule?
Laurence
Hi,
saw one in cambridgeshire a few years back- they look even weirder in Britain than they do in their proper country of origin :)
S
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box
It looks like a juvenile purple gallinule - but maybe not the European one.
TJ
____________________________________________________________________
Tony
My Flickr Photostream
They look OK in water but totally out of proportion on dry land!
Here are three pics of some I saw in Australia at Christmas. They call them purple swamphens there but they are the same bird. Top is an adult, middle is a juvenile and bottom a very young chick. Just look at the size of that foot!
There is something new to learn everyday...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skylark58/
The bird does looks big.
How large is the 'purple gallinule', and what is the bird related to - species wise I mean?
Is it a distant cousin of the Moorhen?
That is interesting to know as a bird.
various subspecies of Purple Swamphen occur across Europe and Asia and are illustrated in all the main Field Guides-
Collins Birds of Europe - Svensson et al
Birds of Europe - Jonsson
Birds of the Middle East/ Christensen et al
Birds of East Asia- Brazil
Birds of South east Asia - Robson
Birds of the Indian subcontinent - Grimmett et al
:)
Bigger than a moorhen and a coot. My Collins Guide says almost the size of a black grouse if that's any help! Sizes given are moorhen 27-31 cm; coot 36-42 cm; purple swamphen (porphyrio porphyrio) 45-50 cm.
Me? i havn't got a clue!!!
Just glad to know I'm not the only person who reaches for a book for the ansa!!!
Lyndsey
I didn't get to be stupid by being blonde, I was stupid enough to pay to be blonde!!!
Lyndseypops said: Just glad to know I'm not the only person who reaches for a book for the ansa!!!
Course you're not. There can't be many people who never refer to a book.
The only reason I know about the swamphens is because I packed my Australian field guide whern we went to OZ for Christmas. My sister thought I was mad to not only take the book but also read while I was there on holiday!