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Black-backed Swamphen - BirdForum Opus

Alternative Name: Sunda Swamphen

Black-backed Swamphen
Photo by THE_FERN
Muara Angke, Jakarta, Indonesia

, July 2023

Porphyrio indicus

Identification

  • Red bill and frontal shield
  • Large feet
  • Black back and head

Distribution

Found in Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo and Sulawesi.

Taxonomy

Formerly considered conspecific with African Swamphen, Grey-headed Swamphen, Western Swamphen, Philippine Swamphen and Australasian Swamphen under the name Purple Swamphen.

Subspecies

Black-backed Swamphen
Photo by THE_FERN
Muara Angke, Jakarta, Indonesia

, July 2023

This is a monotypic species[1].

Habitat

Reed beds and wet areas with high rainfall, swamps, lake edges and damp pastures.

Behaviour

The birds live in pairs and larger communities.

Breeding

The birds make a nest of woven reeds on floating debris or amongst reeds. More than one female will use the nest and they share incubating the eggs for 24 days. Each bird lays 3-6 speckled eggs and the nest can contain up to 12 eggs.

Diet

Diet includes tender shoots and vegetable-like matter, invertebrates (like snails), small fish, and eggs from nests and also eat ducklings. It is a good swimmer, especially for a bird without webbed feet.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Trewick, S.A. 1997. "Flightlessness and phylogeny amongst endemic rails (Aves: Rallidae) of the New Zealand region." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. (352) 429-46.
  3. Sangster, G. 1998. "Purple Swamp-hen is a complex of species." Dutch Birding (20) 13-22.
  4. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2015. IOC World Bird Names (version 5.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
  5. Wikipedia
  6. Absolute Astronomy

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.

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