The Australasian swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus), family Rallidae, is a species of swamphen occurring in eastern Indonesia, the Moluccas, Aru and Kai Islands, as well as in Papua New Guinea and Australia. It is also found in New Zealand where it is known as the Pūkeko, derived from the Māori language. The Australasian swamphen previously was considered a subspecies of the purple swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio).
This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme
That blue colour is spectacular; those awkward looking legs less so.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteIt is a beautiful bird, I love their color. Great photo! Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a happy weekend. PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.
Nice I didn't know you had them here, we see them everywhere in NZ
ReplyDeleteYeah I see them in Melbourne lakes
ReplyDeleteSo similar to our purple colored Grey-headed swamphen.
ReplyDeletehttps://craniumbolts.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-saul-kere-series.html
That's a cracking looking bird. Only seen as extremely rare vagrants here in the UK.
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