AUSTRALASIAN SWAMPHEN (PUKEKO)

Photographed at Ambury, New Zealand, June 2017

 (*  83)              AUSTRALASIAN SWAMPHEN             Porphyrio melanotus

NEW ZEALAND                 1

Australasian Swamphen, species of the Purple Swamphen species, found in Australia and New Zealand; known in New Zealand by maori name Pukeko. Found in wetlands, estuaries, short damp pastures and parks. 51 cm.

PURPLE SWAMPHEN

Subspecies poliocephalus, photographed March 2017

(*  83)               PURPLE SWAMPHEN                  Porphyrio porphyrio 

SRI LANKA                 27

Found in roadbeds, marshes, paddy fields and weedy tanks. 45-50 cm. Locally common breeding resident in the lowlands.

PURPLE SWAMPHEN

Kochi tap Wildlife Reserve, Nepal, March 2017

(*  83)             PURPLE SWAMPHEN              Porphyrio porphyrio

NEPAL              93

Inhabits dense roadbeds at pool edges and in marshes. 45-50 cm. Chiefly a winter visitor and passage migrant, also breeds locally.

NOTE: Indian subspecies sometimes treated as separate species Grey-headed Swamphen P. poliocephalus.

PURPLE SWAMPHEN

83       PURPLE SWAMPHEN       Porphyrio melantonus     

Australia   (83)

Also known as Bald coot, Eastern or western swamp hen, Pukeko. Range is eastern half of Australia from Cape York to Tasmania, also sw Western Australia, and top of WA and NT. Found on margins of lakes, swamps and shallow rivers.

Note: 2 subspecies in Australia

melantonus:  most of n and e Australia, including Tassie.

bellus:     sw WA

Subspecies melanotas, photographed on King Island, June 2018