Purple Swamphen eating mollusc

Posted by BESG on 23 July 08, Wednesday
Contributed by Adrian Lim

Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) is a colourful large bird common in freshwater wetlands of Singapore and Malaysia.

The bird is predominantly vegetarian, eating a wide range of water plants: water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), water spangle (Salvinia molesta), water lily (Nymphaea), lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) and cyperus sedge (Cyperus), among others.

It is an opportunistic feeder and will also take fish, frogs, lizards, snakes, birds, molluscs, leeches, small crabs, insects and their larvae and spiders when available.

In the image by Adrian Lim, the swamphen is seen taking a freshwater snail. Unfortunately, it is not known whether it simply swallowed it or break up the shell first before swallowing.

This post is a cooperative effort between www.naturepixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

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Categories: Feeding-plants

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