Purple Parents

The Purple Gallinules are out in full force at Green Cay. The first brood of the season is growing up and entering that ugly duckling phase. As seen above the young take on a fawn and dark brown coloration for a time. Eventually the brown will become highlighted with iridescence and finally they will come into their full adult coloration.

When my family visited earlier this week we went for a walk on the boardwalk. We were watching one family of Purple Gallinules and taking a few pictures when one of the adults just hopped up on the boardwalk and divided us. It gave us a look that said stay away from my babies. I figured that after a little stand off that it would fly off but instead it started walking towards my mother. I followed it and about 25 feet later it stopped as I quickly walked past it.

Surely it would fly back to its family now but instead it just gave a cursory look at the family and then continued to stay on the boardwalk watching us. We walked away while the parent stood its ground. I have seen many birds at Green Cay show protectiveness towards their young but never a bird as defiant as this. Luckily for this gallinule I had no intention of hurting it or its babies. Before the boardwalk turned into the hammock I saw the parent quietly slip back down into the marsh.