Grey-headed Swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus)
About the Grey-headed Swamphen
The grey-headed swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus) is a species of swamphen occurring from the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent to southern China and northern Thailand. It used to be considered a subspecies of the purple swamphen, but was elevated to full species status in 2015; today the purple swamphen is considered a superspecies and each of its six subspecies groups are designated full species. It is a large greyish-blue to greyish-purple wetland bird 43 cm long with a pale grey head, and a stout red bill. The wings are greenish, and the legs red. It occurs in marshes and jheels. The male has an elaborate courtship display, holding water weeds in his bill and bowing to the female with loud chuckles.
A real field recording of the Grey-headed Swamphen. Press play and focus on the rhythm and pitch of each phrase.
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Our streaming copies are mirrored from the original xeno-canto file and transcoded to 96 kbps mono — a modification, so we note it here; the licence for each recording is named in its credit below.
1 recording on this page · licensed CC BY ×1 · mirrored on this server, free for commercial reuse · recorded in Cambodia, China, India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and elsewhere · xeno-canto lists 86 recordings for this species in total.
Similar species
- African SwamphenPorphyrio madagascariensisprofile
- Allen's GallinulePorphyrio alleniprofile
- Australasian SwamphenPorphyrio melanotusrecording
- Azure GallinulePorphyrio flavirostrisprofile
- Philippine SwamphenPorphyrio pulverulentusprofile
- Purple GallinulePorphyrio martinicarecording
Species grouped by shared genus, family and range.