Bird / Porphyrio porphyrio

Purple Swamphen

LC

Lowest risk

Native

The western swamphen is a swamphen in the rail family Rallidae, one of the six species of purple swamphen. From the French name talève sultane, it is also known as the sultana bird. This chicken-sized bird, with its large feet, bright plumage and red bill and frontal shield is easily recognisable in its native range. It used to be considered the nominate subspecies of the purple swamphen, but is now recognised as a separate species. The western swamphen is found in wetlands in Spain, Portugal, southeastern France, Italy and northwestern Africa.

Range mass
850 to 1050 g
Average length
51 cm
Breeding interval
Purple swamphens have one breeding season per year and produce 1 or 2 clutches at that time.
Breeding season
Breeding varies with region, coinciding with spring.
Range eggs per season
3 to 6
Range time to hatching
23 to 29 days
Average time to independence
2 months
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
3 years

Dakota, A. 2009. "Porphyrio porphyrio" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed November 10, 2020 at https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Porphyrio_porphyrio/

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