Spot-flanked Gallinule - BirdForum Opus

Adult, Subspecies crassirostris
Photo © by Luis R
Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile, November 2018

Porphyriops melanops

Identification

22–30 cm (8¾-11¾ in)
Adult:

• Black face
• Grey head, neck and breast
• Brown back
• Large white flank spots
• White undertail-coverts
• Greenish-yellow bill and shield
  

Juvenile: Lacks grey plumage of adult. Bill and shield grey instead of green.

Distribution

Subspecies bogotensis
Photo © by COLOMBIA Birding
Eastern Andes, Colombia, February 2011

Most of South America from Colombia to Chile and Argentina

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized:^[1]

• P. m. bogotensis:

• Temperate eastern Andes of Colombia

• P. m. melanops:

• Peru to eastern Bolivia, eastern Brazil to Uruguay and Paraguay

• P. m. crassirostris:

• Argentina and Chile

Formerly placed in the genus Gallinula.

Habitat

Wetlands with lots of floating vegetation, such as ponds, ditches, lakes, lagoons and marshes.

Behaviour

Can sometimes remind more of a rail than a gallinule when not coming out further than the edge of a reed bed.

Diet

They pick food from the floating vegetation while swimming, but what they actually eat is so far unknown.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. BF member, personal observation
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved November 2018)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Spot-flanked Gallinule. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 8 November 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Spot-flanked_Gallinule

External Links

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