Purple Gallinule

Sharp-eyed San Diego birders pulled an adult Purple Gallinule out of the dense cattails at Tucson’s Sweetwater Wetlands yesterday, and it was still there this morning, when I joined Rog and Janine for a good twenty minutes of great views of the bird as it perched, preened, and fed just a few feet away from us.

This is a rare bird in the southwest, regularly occurring no closer to us than, say, northern Sinaloa. But rails of many species are notorious for their wanderings: a Spotted Rail here, a Paint-billed Crake there….

Though there is no doubt about the correct identification of the Sweetwater bird, “purplish” gallinules should always be checked carefully: given the vagrancy patterns of rails, any species is equally unlikely anywhere, and until I saw the first photos last night, I’d been hoping that perhaps this was an off-course Allen’s, or a Takahe, or one of the other blue rails of the world. But, I hasten to add, no complaints: it’s a great bird!