Comparing Purples
immature Purple Gallinule digiscoped with Leica APO Televid scope and C-Lux 2 camera
On a recent birding expedition here in Florida, I had the unique opportunity to compare Purple Gallinules side by side with the recently introduced Purple Swamphen. In direct comparison to the Swamphen (originally from Africa), the native Purple Gallinule shows the unique "candy corn" bi-colored beak and blue bill shield (above the beak) in adult plumage. The birds are both considerably smaller and slighter than the larger Swamphens as well.
adult Purple Gallinule, digiscoped at Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Florida 10/20/07
Purple Swamphen adult digiscoped 10/20/07, Wakodahatchee Wetlands, FL
Part of the reason I didn't observe the species together stems from their varying styles of feeding in the marsh. The Purple Gallinules spend a lot of time high in the brush feeding on emerging flower buds as you see in the image below. This adult Gallinule had just reached out and plucked one of the missing buds, and is just beginning to lean in for another.
Purple Gallinule digiscoped w/Leica APO Televid scope and C-lux 2 camera 10/20/07Purple Swamphens pluck the stalks of succulent emergent vegetation and nibble on these while holding these firmly in their foot. I was able to capture this behavior in the short video clip below! Even though these Swamphens are yet another introduced exotic it is still interesting to watch their behaviors.
posted by Jeff Bouton at
1:21 PM
5 Comments:
Great shots of both species! Next time I'm in FLorida I'll know what to look for...
drew @ Nemesis Bird blog
Jeff,
You were lucky to get such great photos of the swamphen. They are now much harder to see. It is ironic that a bird that adapted so readily is not considered "established" (and thus "countable" under the rules of the birding game).
See this Sun-Sentinel article cited at:
http://www.topix.net/content/trb/2007/09/shotguns-used-to-wipe-out-exotic-purple-swamphens-in-broward-palm-beach-counties
(The original article is no laonger available onlne). An excerpt:
"In one of the quickest and most explosive eradication programs ever aimed at an exotic species in South Florida, state officials have gunned down more than 800 swamphens in the past 18 months, determined to wipe out a bird that has been rapidly spreading through wetlands in Broward, Palm Beach and Hendry counties.
In a coordinated, tri-county assault one day last week, shooters with the Conservation Commission, the South Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service killed more than 200 swamphens, including 172 in the marshlands of western Palm Beach County.
"The high numbers surprised commission exotic species coordinator Scott Hardin, who upped his estimate of surviving swamphens from 200 to at least 500. And they are now nesting."
'We want to be optimistic and realistic,' said Hardin. 'But getting rid of things is tough.'
Ken,
I was definitely aware that an eradication process was in place but didn't know the details you provided.
I will have to comment that despite the overwhelming success this bird has had in gaining a foothold, it comes as no surprise that these birds aren't considered established. Common Mynas have been resident and reliably seen across most of SE Florida for over 3 decades now and are now nesting all the way across the peninsula in Gulf locales such as Fort Myers and Port Charlotte, FL. Despite this, in one of the more embarrassing misrepresentations of Florida's avifauna, the Florida Ornithological Society still does not consider this an "established species". Hey you can't be too hasty.... Let's give them another half century and see what happens before we decide! They are apparently making their considerations in geological time! ;p
While the Purple Swamphen is very pretty, it is an invasive species in Florida. Because it has a wide range of what it will eat, it competes with many native Florida species for both food and space. For more information about the Purple Swamphen and other invasive Florida species, please visit http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/Nonnative_PurpleSwamphen.htm.
...That said, your pictures are really great!
anonymous - while it is true the bird is introduced, I think you're taking an enormous jump, "saying it competes with many native species..." The only conclusive study done on these birds (actually the paper cited in your link) even suggests that they do not seem to compete. It states they are mostly vegetarians but can and will ocassionally prey on snakes, fish, frogs, etc. I realize that typically any species when 1st introduced to a new eco-system can take off like mad, but the evidence provided in this case does not seem to support this.
I think sometimes members of various agencies tend to be TOO quick to react to an issue like this. Indeed I know more than a few agency personnel whose entire careers were based on eliminating all "invasive exotics" and it does seem that this knee-jerk response can sometimes be too extreme or based on poor or NO scientific merit. Introduced = BAD!
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