Swamphen or Gallinule (Very bad photos) (1 Viewer)

[Fandango739]

Gray-headed Swamphen or Purple Gallinule?
I believe all photos to be the same bird. Hard to tell, as it kept behind the reeds.

Thanks!

 

[Nutcracker]

Actually a Grey-headed Swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus); it's a Eurasian species, so 'old world' English spellings apply :t:

Note that Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio porphyrio sensu lato, formerly including Porphyrio porphyrio poliocephalus) is just the old name for the species before it was split into 4 species; not to be confused with American Purple Gallinule (Porphyrula martinica) a very different, much smaller species).

 

[Reuven_M]

Actually a Grey-headed Swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus); it's a Eurasian species, so 'old world' English spellings apply :t:

Note that Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio porphyrio sensu lato, formerly including Porphyrio porphyrio poliocephalus) is just the old name for the species before it was split into 4 species; not to be confused with American Purple Gallinule (Porphyrula martinica) a very different, much smaller species).

A bit more complicated than that, and depending on what checklist you're using. This species has been called Purple Swamphen for as long as they've been present in Florida (and Porphyrula martinica is just Purple Gallinule according to AOU, IOC and eBird/Clements, not American Purple Gallinule).

Using AOU taxonomy it's just Purple Swamphen as they aren't split. Using eBird/Clements it is Gray-headed Swamphen as the gray spelling is used throughout. IOC uses grey throughout as far as I can tell, so I'm not sure why you're basing the spelling on distribution?

And yes this is a Gray-headed Swamphen, not a Purple Gallinule.