The Story
I photographed this juvenile Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) at Finca La Esmeralda, near Santander de Quilichao in Cauca, Colombia. Young birds are light brown with hints of green-bronze on the wings and back and white under the tail, quite unlike the purple-blue adults. Long toes spread its weight so it can walk across floating plants, and it eats a mix of plant and animal food. In darker light the adults can look dusky, but the forehead shield still identifies them. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/250 sec, f/16, ISO 800, −1 EV. Santander de Quilichao’s town council made the Yellow Oriole, known locally as the chicao, its emblem bird.
©2022 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