The western swamphen is a "swamp hen" in the rail family Rallidae. This chicken-sized bird, with its large feet, bright plumage and red bill and frontal shield is easily recognisable in its native range. It used to be considered the nominate subspecies of the purple swamphen. It is found in Iberia, France, Sardinia and North Africa to Tunisia.
Similar species: Crane-like Birds
By Thibaud Aronson
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Uploaded Dec 14, 2016. Captured Dec 14, 2016 13:52 in Chemin des Étangs, 34970 Lattes, France.
comments (4)
I was very surprised as I've seen them before in this reserve but always far away, and quickly vanishing between the reeds. This one was right out in the open, eating away, and completely unfazed by my presence, even though I was on a boardwalk looking straight at it from 10 meters away.
It is actually really lovely, because this is one of the northernmost places where the species occurs, and they seem to be doing better every year.
Then, I turned around to get a shot of the skulking moustached warbler, the other one I uploaded, as I'd never seen it in France before. 10 minutes later, I come back, and the swamphen has moved to a different spot but it's still in the open, and even closer! Posted 8 years ago, modified 8 years ago