The Story
This is a Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) that I photographed at the Jardín Botánico de Bogotá in Bogotá, Colombia on June 28, 2017. Its long toes spread its weight so it can walk across floating plants. 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. The José Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden is Colombia’s largest botanical garden, with an emphasis on Andean and páramo ecosystems.
I photographed it with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 160. 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