Bird Size

About the length of a basketball (~46cm) the Australasian Swamphen is one of the biggest swamphens and stands out from other swamphens because of its beautiful deep purple-blue and black coloured feathers.

Bird Features, Colours, Behaviours

Along with the beautiful deep purple-blue and black coloured feathers, this swamphen has a large red facial shield that starts from the end of its beak and goes past its eyes. The females and the males look similar with deep blue heads and necks and a deep purple-blue front. They are dusky black from above and on their wings. These birds have very long, thin red legs with really wiry, long toes. Their tomato red beaks are very big and look like they join the red facial shield. These guys flick their tail a lot, flashing their white tail feathers. The young are similar colours too but develop the red facial shield and red in the beak later.

These guys like to eat plant material. You can see them walking over floating vegetation in and around billabongs, swamps and rivers. They aren’t bad flyers and you can spot them by their trailing legs and toes hanging out behind them when flying.

Bird Social Behaviour

You can usually see these guys in small mobs protecting their territory or in larger, spread out small mobs.