The Story
On June 28, 2017, I photographed this juvenile Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) at the Jardín Botánico de Bogotá in Bogotá, Colombia. It is an omnivorous ground feeder, eating a mix of plant and animal food. Its floating nest is hidden in dense vegetation along the shallow edges of lakes, rivers and marshes, and young birds stay on the territory to help raise their siblings. Its long toes spread its weight so it can walk across floating plants. The José Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden is Colombia’s largest botanical garden, with an emphasis on Andean and páramo ecosystems.
I used a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM for this one, at 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800. IUCN lists the Purple Gallinule as Least Concern with a stable population, and the garden keeps five special collections for Andean plants in danger of extinction, among them orchids and bromeliads.
©2018 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