Black-backed Swamphen

Porphyrio indicus Horsfield, 1821

≈46 cmLength774 gWeight

It has a very large frontal shield, black upperparts and blackish sides to the head.

Most records: Malaysia, Indonesia, Cocos (Keeling) Islands

How to identify

Field marks

Very large frontal shield
Black upperparts
Blackish sides to the head

Where and when it's recorded

Most records: Malaysia, Indonesia, Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Black-backed Swamphen has been recorded at 21 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 5 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Muara Angke NRIndonesia167 records
Muara Angke NR – northern sectionIndonesia111 records
Tempasuk PlainMalaysia107 records

More places

Tempasuk Plain – Jalan Sangkhir Rice Paddies/WetlandMalaysia72 records
Penampang rice paddies & fieldsMalaysia57 records
Kota Kinabalu – Likas LagoonMalaysia37 records
Batang Tiga RicefieldsMalaysia18 records
Sungai Balang rice fieldsMalaysia15 records
Kota Kinabalu Wetland Ramsar Site & Education CentreMalaysia7 records
Taman Wisata Alam KapukIndonesia6 records

Countries and regions with the most records

Malaysia Indonesia Cocos (Keeling) Islands Singapore Japan

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The black-backed swamphen (Porphyrio indicus) is a species of swamphen occurring from southeast Asia to Sulawesi and Borneo. It used to be considered a subspecies of the purple swamphen, which it resembles, but has a large shield, black upperparts, and the side of the head is blackish.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Black-backed Swamphen?

The Black-backed Swamphen is about ≈46 cm long and weighs around 774 g.

Where does the Black-backed Swamphen live?

Its breeding range: Oriental, Australasia: Sumatra, Java, southeastern Borneo, southwestern Sulawesi and southern Philippines. It is most often recorded in Malaysia, Indonesia and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.