The Story
On June 23, 2017, I photographed this Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata) at the Malecón Cameguadua in Chinchiná, Caldas, Colombia. It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals and other wetlands in the Americas. It eats plant material and small aquatic animals, and its wide feet let it walk on lily pads. It was split from the common moorhen in 2011. Chinchiná lies 17 kilometers southwest of Manizales, at 1,360 meters, in a valley surrounded by coffee plantations. The Cameguadua reservoir in Chinchiná belongs to the power company CHEC and is fed by the Chinchiná and Campoalegre rivers.
I used a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM for this one, at 1/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250. IUCN lists the Common Gallinule as Least Concern, and Chinchiná is part of the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata) 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). Source: IUCN Red List