Western/Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio

The Purple Swamphen used to cover several subspecies with a range covering southern Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia. The previous European subspecies, above with its blue back, retains the scientific name and has been renamed the Western Swamphen. It is native to southern Europe and North Africa. It was also known as the Purple Moorhen and Purple Gallinule, but the latter is also applied to the American bird which has yellow legs and a pale blue face-shield instead of the bright red legs and face-shield of the Purple Swamphen.