I watched this striking Purple Gallinule preening in a low, marshy shrub one recent sunny morning. He stayed there for the longest time among the shadowy leaves, as I patiently waited for him to come out into the light.Finally, he began to clamber slowly, deliberately down the long leafy reeds. And then he did something I had never […]
There is something so lovely and graceful, yet vulnerable, about a juvenile Purple Gallinule. He is no longer a comical little ball of black fluff, toddling after his parents. But he is not yet a full-grown shimmering beauty like them either.I came across this young fellow clambering around in a low tree, and had the […]
Some birds just always look good, like this adult Purple Gallinule hiding in the shadows above. Some little guys, like the ones below, are still aspiring to look like their handsome parents.
They have always one of my favorite birds . . . The stunning Purple Gallinules shimmered in the light of my flash on a recent early evening, but my presence didn’t seem to bother them one bit. There were no people anywhere around, just the Purple Gallinules and me. I spent many special moments alone with […]
The Red-winged Blackbird nesting season has been in full swing these past few weeks, and LOTS of chicks, like the one above, are beginning to pop their heads up and peek out among the reeds and leaves. Many baby birds are fledging now, venturing out on their own, away from the nest, on the rocky road […]
Amazing how different birds look in the early morning light, depending upon which side of the boardwalk they’re on! Well, actually, it depends on whether I am looking toward the sunrise, into the shadows, or if the sun is behind me 😉I caught sight of this unmistakably-shaped bird, a Purple Gallinule, in the shadows on the […]
Last week in my post, A thing or two about Ducks, I mentioned that I would soon blog about some water fowl that look sort of like ducks, and are commonly mistaken for ducks, but are not ducks at all. Now, you can certainly tell that the little creature featured above is NOT a duck at all. But, looks can be deceiving! […]
The Purple Gallinule is one of my favorite wetland birds. I loved how this one looked, surrounded by the dark green plants and dark blues of the water on a late afternoon December walk. We see them frequently here, all throughout the year. Their colors are just glorious in the sun, as their feathers truly […]
The Purple Gallinule is one of my favorite birds – luckily for me, they are very common in our wetlands!! Like other Gallinule babies, they are just little balls of black fluff when they are born. By mid-August, there were still a few groups of chicks toddling after their parents in the reeds and peeking […]
Birder's Journey 