Hello and Happy Saturday! Can you believe almost a whole month has gone by in this new year? It’s almost February! Have you gotten outside lately, had any interesting wildlife encounters?
Last week’s puzzler was a beautiful bird called a purple gallinule.
It can be found in overgrown swamps, lagoons and marshes in southern Florida and along the Gulf coast, south through coastal Mexico and then on to Central and South America as far as Brazil. Have you ever seen one?
Purple gallinules are really cool because as the light hitting them changes, so too does their color. They can appear purple, green, turquoise, blue and gold. Their huge feet allow them to walk on the vegetation of lilies, lotus, water shield, spatterdock, and other aquatic plants. They have a varied diet, eating both plant and animal matter including, flowers, leaves, tubers, rice, seeds, spiders, worms, snails, dragonflies, leeches, ants, grasshoppers, frogs, small fish and even bird eggs that they find.
Purple gallinules will swim in the water, their huge feet underwater, just like ducks.
Then they will climb out and use those huge feet to walk on top of the water, searching for food. They actually build their nests out in the vegetation–making up to 4 nests but only using one.
Ready for another puzzler? Our next puzzler also features a bird–but one that is a lot different than a purple gallinule, as it has orange legs, a long body, and long, pointed wings and an unusual bill. See if you can identify it!
See you again soon.