The Story
The place
Restrepo, Meta, Colombia. I photographed this immature 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
I photographed an immature Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) in Restrepo, in the Department of Meta, Colombia. The bird was stepping carefully across dense leaf litter along the water’s edge, its plumage glowing with a mix of iridescent greens, golds, and vivid blues. The oversized yellow legs and long toes are striking features, adapted for walking on floating vegetation, and they added both visual drama and compositional weight to the frame. I used the Canon EOS R5 with the RF800mm F11 IS STM and Extender RF1.4x, at 1120 mm, 1/90 s, f/16, ISO 3200, −3/2 EV.
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