Azure Gallinule
[order] Gruiformes | [family] Rallidae | [latin] Porphyrio flavirostris | [UK] Azure Gallinule | [FR] Azure Gallinule | [DE] Azursultanshuhn | [ES] Calamoncillo Celeste | [IT] Gallinella beccogiallo | [NL] Azuurpurperhoen
Physical charateristics
The bill and frontal shield is a pale greenish-yellow.The wing coverts are greenish-blue while the back and tail are browner. The throat and underparts are white while the legs are yellow.
| wingspan min.: | cm | wingspan max.: | cm | ||
| size min.: | 23 | cm | size max.: | 26 | cm |
| incubation min.: | 0 | days | incubation max.: | 0 | days |
| fledging min.: | 0 | days | fledging max.: | 0 | days |
| broods: | 1 | eggs min.: | 4 | ||
| eggs max.: | 5 |
Distribution
The Azure Gallinule is found in the lowland tropics of South America, primarily in the Amazonia-Guianas region. Until the recent specimen record from New York in 1987 this species had not been found farther north than Venezuela, Trinidad, Guyana, and Suriname.
Listen to the sound of Azure Gallinule
Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto
Habitat
It is found in freshwater marshes where there is floating vegetation and this includes marshy edges of rivers and lakes.
Foraging habits
Diet consists of invertebrates, insects and seeds taken from water and vegetation. Climbs in reed stems to bend them over water to pick up food.
copyright D. Ascanio
Breeding habits
Nest is an open cup of leaves concealed in dense marsh vegetation. Clutch size is 4-5 eggs, incubated by both parents.
Conservation
This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 5,300,000 km². The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population size criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., less than 10,000 mature individuals in conjunction with appropriate decline rates and subpopulation qualifiers), even though the species is described as ‘uncommon’ in at least parts of its range (Stotz et al. 1996). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern. (source Birdlife.org)
Migration
Very depending on local circumstances (wet or dry), mostly sedentary in amazonia but seems to move from the Guianas during the dry season. Probably dispersive after breeding.
