The Story
The place
Restrepo, Meta, Colombia. I photographed this Purple Gallinule here on September 29, 2023, at about 5:10 p.m.
eBird lists 206 species all-time at Reserva Natural Cosmopolitana (as of October 2026).
The shot
This Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) was stepping across dense leaf litter in Restrepo, Meta, Colombia, a foothill town just north of Villavicencio. Its long yellow legs and toes are built for walking on floating plants. The species lives in freshwater marshes with dense vegetation, where it builds a floating nest along shallow shorelines. Pairs defend the nest and territory, and young birds often stay on to help raise their siblings.
I photographed it with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/90 sec, f/16, ISO 3200, −1.5 EV. IUCN lists the Purple Gallinule as Least Concern, but it depends on marshes and wetland edges, the kind of habitat that is easily drained or filled near growing towns.
©2025 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) belongs to the family Rallidae (Rails, Gallinules, and Coots) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List
