Porphyrio porphyrio
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The western swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) is a species of swamphen in the rail family Rallidae, one of the six species of purple swamphen. This chicken-sized bird, with its large feet, bright plumage and red bill and frontal shield is easily recognisable in its native range. It used to be considered the nominate subspecies of the purple swamphen, but is now recognised as a separate species. The western swamphen is found in wetlands in Spain (where the largest population lives), Portugal, southeastern France, Italy (Sardinia and Sicily) and northwestern Africa (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia).
The western swamphen was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the coots in the genus Fulica and coined the binomial name Fulica porphyrio. The specific epithet porphyrio is Latin for a swamphen. The word is from Ancient Greek πορφυριον (porphurion) meaning "swamphen" which in turn is from πορφυρα (porphura) meaning "purple". The species had been described in 1678 by the English ornithologist Francis Willughby under that Latin name Porphyrio and English name "purple water-hen". Linnaeas specified... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Visakhapatnam | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Indore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Durg | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Thiruvananthapuram | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Bengaluru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Ponnani | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Chennai | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prague Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 2 | Barcelona Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Aquarama Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Penza Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 5 | L'Oceanogràfic | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Leningrad Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 7 | Rákosův pavilon | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 8 | Velemlokárium | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 9 | Les Oiseaux du Marais Poitevin | 🇫🇷 France |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Western Swamphen sighting in Nairobi National Park on a given day, based on 15 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 333rd most-seen of the 371 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Western Swamphen in Nairobi National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February to December, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Western Swamphen sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
29th of 38
Of the 38 parks where we can rate Western Swamphen sightings, Nairobi National Park ranks 29th at under 5%. The best odds are in Keoladeo National Park (India, about 60%), Doñana National Park (Spain, about 40%) and Camargue (France, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Rallidae
The closest relatives of the Western Swamphen that you can see in Nairobi National Park (family Rallidae, Rails, Gallinules, and Coots) are Common Moorhen (about 30%) and Black Crake (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Western Swamphen is recorded against all the birds logged in Nairobi National Park (15 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
