Western Swamphen

Porphyrio porphyrio (Linnaeus, 1758)

≈47 cmLength774 gWeight

It is about the size of a chicken, with large feet, bright plumage, a red bill and a red frontal shield.

Busiest months: March–April · Most records: Spain, Portugal, France

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Red bill and frontal shield
Very large feet
Bright plumage

Voice

Loud, rapid calls resemble bleating and hooting, rather than typical bird calls.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: March–April · Most records: Spain, Portugal, France

Western Swamphen has been recorded at 125 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 10 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Marjal dels Moros – ÁreaSpain2,308 records
PN Ria Formosa – Quinta do Lago – área geralPortugal2,060 records
El Hondo PNat – Centro de VisitantesSpain1,886 records

More places

Lagoa dos SalgadosPortugal1,790 records
Brazo del Este PjeNat – ÁreaSpain1,589 records
Laguna de la VeguillaSpain1,461 records
Hides de Sa Roca i C. Informació, P.N. s'Albufera de MallorcaSpain1,426 records
Embalse de Arrocampo – Observatorio 2Spain1,307 records
Delta de l'Ebre PNat – Mirador David BigasSpain1,184 records
Delta de l'Ebre PNat – Riet VellSpain1,179 records

Countries and regions with the most records

Spain Portugal France Morocco Tunisia United Kingdom Switzerland Algeria

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 western swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) is a species of swamphen in the rail family Rallidae, one of the six species of purple swamphen. This chicken-sized bird, with its large feet, bright plumage and red bill and frontal shield is easily recognisable in its native range. It used to be considered the nominate subspecies of the purple swamphen, but is now recognised as a separate species.

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