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Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio melanotus
Cetennial Park, Sydney. March 2006 and March 2008
 
Worldwide there are, depending on the authority, six or more subspecies of the large and rather primitive-looking Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio - a bird breeding in reed beds across southernmost Europe, Africa, tropical Asia, and Australasia - which differ mainly in the plumage colours. [...]

Dusky Moorhen Gallinula tenebrosa
Sydney and Melbourne Botanic Gardens. Various dates.
 
The Dusky Moorhen Gallinula tenebrosa occurs in Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia. New Guinea birds are smaller, at 25-32cm in length, than the Australian race (35-40 cm, 55-65 cm wingspan). In Indonesia, it is losing ground to the closely related Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus on those [...]