Allen's Gallinule
Bronze Gallinule ( Porphyrio alleni )
The Bronze Gallinule ( Porphyrio alleni ), also called African Gallinule, is an African species of bird in the family squacco birds. In the Palaearctic it is a very rare Irrgast.
Description
The Bronze Gallinule achieved with 22 to 26 centimeters about the height of a water rail. Males weigh an average of 154 females and 125 grams. The wingspan is 48 to 52 centimeters.
The Bronze Gallinule has a short, red beak and a greenish back, which is about wine reddish wash. The legs are red with long toes. The tail is short and white and has a dark transverse band on the underside. Males have a blue face plate during the breeding season. In females, this is green. Immature Bronze Sultan Chickens are beige with darker coverts. The Dunenküken are blackish.
Distribution, habitat and way of life
The Bronze Sultan Chicken is a breeding bird in Africa. It is south of the Sahara before and missing only in the arid south-west Africa. It also colonized Madagascar, the Comoros and Mauritius. Its habitat is tropical lowland and wetlands. At the permanent waters Bronze Gallinule is a state bird. Where the waters inventory fluctuates seasonally, the Rail moves irregularly and penetrates during these forays even to North Africa and Western Europe. The Bronze Gallinule lives mainly from plant foods.