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Gray-headed Swamphen

Porphyrio poliocephalus

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots
Gray-headed Swamphen, photographed by Tisha Mukherjee

Photo: Tisha Mukherjee · Wikimedia · CC-BY-SA 4.0 (licence)

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Call and song

About the Gray-headed Swamphen

A very large bluish-purple waterbird with a red bill and forehead shield, as well as red legs and feet with long toes. The tail is flicked up often, revealing fluffy white “underpants.” Juveniles are duller than adults and lack the red bill and shield. An inhabitant of marshy, vegetated freshwater bodies such as swamps, rivers, and lakes; usually in small groups. Feeds, often clumsily, at muddy water edges, in reeds, and on floating vegetation. Makes short nasal grunts and croaking sounds. Formerly part of the species known as Purple Swamphen.

Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made

Where it has been recorded

Recorded in 39 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.

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